Planarian Epidermal Stem Cells Respond to Positional Cues to Promote Cell-Type Diversity

Publication date: 13 March 2017
Source:Developmental Cell, Volume 40, Issue 5
Author(s): Omri Wurtzel, Isaac M. Oderberg, Peter W. Reddien
Successful regeneration requires that progenitors of different lineages form the appropriate missing cell types. However, simply generating lineages is not enough. Cells produced by a particular lineage often have distinct functions depending on their position within the organism. How this occurs in regeneration is largely unexplored. In planarian regeneration, new cells arise from a proliferative cell population (neoblasts). We used the planarian epidermal lineage to study how the location of adult progenitor cells results in their acquisition of distinct functional identities. Single-cell RNA sequencing of epidermal progenitors revealed the emergence of distinct spatial identities as early in the lineage as the epidermal neoblasts, with further pre-patterning occurring in their post-mitotic migratory progeny. Establishment of dorsal-ventral epidermal identities and functions, in response to BMP signaling, required neoblasts. Our work identified positional signals that activate regionalized transcriptional programs in the stem cell population and subsequently promote cell-type diversity in the epidermis.

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Teaser

Wurtzel et al. examine how in planarian regeneration, adult progenitor cell location contributes to acquisition of distinct functional identities. They provide insight for how progenitors in the epidermis read their position in the animal to activating region-specific transcription, which is ultimately propagated to differentiated progeny to generate the required cellular functions.


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