PUBLICATION

Single epicardial cell transcriptome sequencing identifies Caveolin-1 as an essential factor in zebrafish heart regeneration

Authors
Cao, J., Navis, A., Cox, B.D., Dickson, A.L., Gemberling, M., Karra, R., Bagnat, M., Poss, K.D.
ID
ZDB-PUB-151216-17
Date
2016
Source
Development (Cambridge, England)   143(2): 232-43 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Bagnat, Michel, Cao, Jingli, Cox, Ben, Dickson, Amy, Gemberling, Matt, Karra, Ravi, Poss, Kenneth D.
Keywords
Heart regeneration, Epicardium, Single-cell sequencing, Caveolin-1, Zebrafish
Datasets
GEO:GSE75583
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Caveolin 1/genetics
  • Caveolin 1/metabolism*
  • Heart/physiology*
  • Myocytes, Cardiac/cytology
  • Pericardium/cytology*
  • Regeneration/physiology*
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
26657776 Full text @ Development
Abstract
By contrast with mammals, adult zebrafish have a high capacity to regenerate damaged or lost myocardium through proliferation of spared cardiomyocytes. The epicardial sheet covering the heart is activated by injury and aids muscle regeneration through paracrine effects and as a multipotent cell source, and has received recent attention as a target in cardiac repair strategies. While it is recognized that epicardium is required for muscle regeneration and itself has high regenerative potential, the extent of cellular heterogeneity within epicardial tissue is largely unexplored. In this study, we performed transcriptome analysis on dozens of epicardial lineage cells purified from zebrafish harboring a transgenic reporter for the pan-epicardial gene tcf21. Hierarchical clustering analysis suggested the presence of at least three epicardial cell subsets defined by expression signatures. We validated many new pan-epicardial and epicardial markers by alternative expression assays. Additionally, we explored the function of the scaffolding protein and main component of caveolae, caveolin-1 (cav1), which was present in each epicardial subset. In BAC transgenic zebrafish, cav1 regulatory sequences drove strong expression in ostensibly all epicardial cells and in coronary vascular endothelial cells. Moreover, cav1 mutant zebrafish generated by genome editing showed grossly normal heart development and adult cardiac anatomy, but displayed profound defects in injury-induced cardiomyocyte proliferation and heart regeneration. Our study defines a new platform for the discovery of epicardial lineage markers, genetic tools, and mechanisms of heart regeneration.
Genes / Markers
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping