Correction to: Dragonfies of Dragon’s Blood Island: Atlas of the Odonata of the Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-021-01006-z

In vivo single-cell lineage tracing in zebrafish using high-resolution infrared laser-mediated gene induction microscopy

Heterogeneity broadly exists in various cell types both during development and at homeostasis. Investigating heterogeneity is crucial for comprehensively understanding the complexity of ontogeny, dynamics, and function of specific cell types. Traditional bulk-labeling techniques are incompetent to dissect heterogeneity within cell population, while the new single-cell lineage tracing methodologies invented in the last decade can hardly achieve high-fidelity single-cell labeling and long-term in-vivo observation simultaneously. In this work, we developed a high-precision infrared laser-evoked gene operator heat-shock system, which uses laser-induced CreERT2 combined with loxP-DsRedx-loxP-GFP reporter to achieve precise single-cell labeling and tracing. In vivo study indicated that this system can precisely label single cell in brain, muscle and hematopoietic system in zebrafish embryo. Using this system, we traced the hematopoietic potential of hemogenic endothelium (HE) in the posterior blood island (PBI) of zebrafish embryo and found that HEs in the PBI are heterogeneous, which contains at least myeloid unipotent and myeloid-lymphoid bipotent subtypes.

The first wave of T lymphopoiesis in zebrafish arises from aorta endothelium independent of hematopoietic stem cells

T lymphocytes are key cellular components of the adaptive immune system and play a central role in cell-mediated immunity in vertebrates. Despite their heterogeneities, it is believed that all different types of T lymphocytes are generated exclusively via the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Using temporal–spatial resolved fate-mapping analysis and time-lapse imaging, here we show that the ventral endothelium in the zebrafish aorta–gonad–mesonephros and posterior blood island, the hematopoietic tissues previously known to generate HSCs and erythromyeloid progenitors, respectively, gives rise to a transient wave of T lymphopoiesis independent of HSCs. This HSC-independent T lymphopoiesis occurs early and generates predominantly CD4 Tαβ cells in the larval but not juvenile and adult stages, whereas HSC-dependent T lymphopoiesis emerges late and produces various subtypes of T lymphocytes continuously from the larval stage to adulthood. Our study unveils the existence, origin, and ontogeny of HSC-independent T lymphopoiesis in vivo and reveals the complexity of the endothelial-hematopoietic transition of the aorta.

Loss of neurofibromin Ras-GAP activity enhances the formation of cardiac blood islands in murine embryos

Type I neurofibromatosis (NF1) is caused by mutations in the NF1 gene encoding neurofibromin. Neurofibromin exhibits Ras GTPase activating protein (Ras-GAP) activity that is thought to mediate cellular functions relevant to disease phenotypes. Loss of murine Nf1 results in embryonic lethality due to heart defects, while mice with monoallelic loss of function mutations or with tissue-specific inactivation have been used to model NF1. Here, we characterize previously unappreciated phenotypes in Nf1-/- embryos, which are inhibition of hemogenic endothelial specification in the dorsal aorta, enhanced yolk sac hematopoiesis, and exuberant cardiac blood island formation. We show that a missense mutation engineered into the active site of the Ras-GAP domain is sufficient to reproduce ectopic blood island formation, cardiac defects, and overgrowth of neural crest-derived structures seen in Nf1-/-embryos. These findings demonstrate a role for Ras-GAP activity in suppressing the hemogenic potential of the heart and restricting growth of neural crest-derived tissues.

BMP-mediated specification of the erythroid lineage suppresses endothelial development in blood island precursors

Key Points Commitment to the erythroid transcriptional program precludes endothelial development in a blood island precursor population.

Abstract 294: Hematopoietic Cells Are Required For Proper Development Of Coronary Vasculature

Objective: We examined whether the hematopoietic cells induce the coronary artery formation using genetically modified mouse models of hematopoietic ablation in vivo and ex vivo . Methods: As a model of for hematopoietic cell deficient animals, we used Runx1 (a transcription factor required for definitive hematopoiesis) knockout embryos and Vav1-cre; R26-DTA embryos, which ablates 2/3 of CD45+ hematopoietic cells. The coronary growth and the hematopoietic cells were evaluated in whole-mount, section and ex vivo explant culture. Results: The developing coronary endothelial cells form blood-island-like structure at around E12.5 in the subepicardial region. Interestingly, however, the histological analyses suggest that the first Ter119+ and CD45+ blood cells appear in the subendocardial area at E10.5, even before the formation of coronary channels. These initial hematopoietic cells in the heart are not likely derived from the epicardium, as the sorted epicardial cells yielded no hematopoietic cell in colony formation assay. These observations raised a question whether these heart-resident hematopoietic cells rather play an inductive role during coronary formation. To examine this possibility, we analyzed two hematopoietic ablation models. Both Runx1 knockout embryos and Vav1-cre; R26-DTA embryos revealed disorganized, hypoplastic microvasculature of coronary vessels on section and whole-mount stainings. Furthermore, coronary explant experiments showed that the mouse heart explants from Runx1 knockout embryos and Vav1-cre; R26-DTA embryos exhibited impaired coronary formation ex vivo. Conclusion: Hematopoietic cells are not merely transported via coronary vessels, but substantially involved in the induction of the coronary vessels during cardiogenesis.