Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Cell Chem Biol. 2018 Apr 19;25(4):439-446.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.01.010. Epub 2018 Feb 8.
At the base of the intestinal crypt, long-lived Lgr5 stem cells are intercalated by Paneth cells that provide essential niche signals for stem cell maintenance. This unique epithelial anatomy makes the intestinal crypt one of the most accessible models for the study of adult stem cell biology. The glycosylation patterns of this compartment are poorly characterized, and the impact of glycans on stem cell differentiation remains largely unexplored. We find that Paneth cells, but not Lgr5 stem cells, express abundant terminal N-acetyllactosamine (LacNAc). Employing an enzymatic method to edit glycans in cultured crypt organoids, we assess the functional role of LacNAc in the intestinal crypt. We discover that blocking access to LacNAc on Paneth cells leads to hyperproliferation of the neighboring Lgr5 stem cells, which is accompanied by the downregulation of genes that are known as negative regulators of proliferation.
在肠隐窝的底部,长寿的 Lgr5 干细胞被 Paneth 细胞插入,Paneth 细胞为干细胞维持提供必要的生态位信号。这种独特的上皮解剖结构使肠隐窝成为研究成人干细胞生物学的最易接近的模型之一。该隔室的糖基化模式描述得很差,糖对干细胞分化的影响在很大程度上仍未得到探索。我们发现 Paneth 细胞(但不是 Lgr5 干细胞)表达丰富的末端 N-乙酰乳糖胺(LacNAc)。我们采用酶法编辑培养的隐窝类器官中的聚糖,评估 LacNAc 在肠隐窝中的功能作用。我们发现,阻断 Paneth 细胞上 LacNAc 的进入会导致相邻的 Lgr5 干细胞过度增殖,这伴随着已知作为增殖负调节剂的基因下调。