Graded BMP signaling within intestinal crypt architecture directs self-organization of the Wnt-secreting stem cell niche
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ABSTRACT: Signals from the surrounding niche drive proliferation and suppress differentiation of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) at the bottom of intestinal crypts. Among sub-epithelial support cells, deep sub-cryptal CD81+ PDGFRAlo trophocytes alone sustain ISC functions ex vivo. Here we show that mRNA and chromatin profiles of abundant CD81- PDGFRAlo stromal cells resemble those of trophocytes and that both populations provide crucial canonical Wnt ligands. Mesenchymal expression of key ISC-supportive factors extends along a spatial and molecular continuum from trophocytes into peri-cryptal CD81- CD55hi cells, which mimic trophocyte activity in organoid co-cultures. Graded expression of essential niche factors is not cell-autonomous but dictated by the distance from bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-secreting PDGFRAhi myofibroblast aggregates. BMP signaling inhibits ISC-trophic genes in PDGFRAlo cells near high crypt tiers and that suppression is relieved in stromal cells near and below the crypt base, including trophocytes. Cell distances thus underlie a self-organized and polar ISC niche.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE212601 | GEO | 2023/03/01
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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