Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Nov 16;14(1):7422. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43267-2.
Regeneration requires mechanisms for producing a wide array of cell types. Neoblasts are stem cells in the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea that undergo fate specification to produce over 125 adult cell types. Fate specification in neoblasts can be regulated through expression of fate-specific transcription factors. We utilize multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization (MERFISH) and whole-mount FISH to characterize fate choice distribution of stem cells within planarians. Fate choices are often made distant from target tissues and in a highly intermingled manner, with neighboring neoblasts frequently making divergent fate choices for tissues of different location and function. We propose that pattern formation is driven primarily by the migratory assortment of progenitors from mixed and spatially distributed fate-specified stem cells and that fate choice involves stem-cell intrinsic processes.
再生需要产生多种细胞类型的机制。Neoblasts 是扁形动物门地中海扁形虫中的干细胞，它们经历命运特化以产生超过 125 种成年细胞类型。Neoblasts 中的命运特化可以通过表达命运特化的转录因子来调节。我们利用多重纠错荧光原位杂交（MERFISH）和全器官原位杂交来描述扁形动物体内干细胞的命运选择分布。命运选择通常远离靶组织，并以高度混杂的方式进行，相邻的 Neoblasts 经常为不同位置和功能的组织做出不同的命运选择。我们提出，模式形成主要是由来自混合和空间分布的命运特化干细胞的祖细胞的迁移组合驱动的，而命运选择涉及干细胞内在的过程。
