College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
BGI Research, 266555, Qingdao, China.
Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 13;14(1):5630. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41309-3.
The six species of lungfish possess both lungs and gills and are the closest extant relatives of tetrapods. Here, we report a single-cell transcriptome atlas of the West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens). This species manifests the most extreme form of terrestrialization, a life history strategy to survive dry periods that can last for years, characterized by dormancy and reversible adaptive changes of the gills and lungs. Our atlas highlights the cell type diversity of the West African lungfish, including gene expression consistent with phenotype changes of terrestrialization. Comparison with terrestrial tetrapods and ray-finned fishes reveals broad homology between the swim bladder and lung cell types as well as shared and idiosyncratic changes of the external gills of the West African lungfish and the internal gills of Atlantic salmon. The single-cell atlas presented here provides a valuable resource for further exploration of the respiratory system evolution in vertebrates and the diversity of lungfish terrestrialization.
肺鱼有六属，既有肺又有鳃，是四足动物现存的近亲。在这里，我们报道了西非肺鱼（Protopterus annectens）的单细胞转录组图谱。该物种表现出最极端的陆生形式，这是一种生存于干旱期的生活史策略，干旱期可持续数年，其特征为休眠和鳃与肺的可逆转适应性变化。我们的图谱突出了西非肺鱼的细胞类型多样性，包括与陆生特化相关的基因表达。与陆生四足动物和硬骨鱼的比较揭示了鳔和肺细胞类型之间的广泛同源性，以及西非肺鱼的外鳃和大西洋鲑鱼的内鳃的共享和独特变化。这里呈现的单细胞图谱为进一步探索脊椎动物呼吸系统进化和肺鱼陆生特化的多样性提供了有价值的资源。
