Identification of Lgr5-independent spheroid-generating progenitors of the mouse fetal intestinal epithelium
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ABSTRACT: Immortal spheroids were generated from fetal mouse intestine using the culture system developed to culture organoids from adult intestinal epithelium. Spheroids are made of a monostratified polarized epithelium displaying a poorly differentiated intestinal phenotype. The proportion of spheroids generated from intestinal explants progressively decreases from fetal to postnatal period, with a corresponding increase in production of organoids. Spheroid cells show indefinite self-renewing properties but exhibit a transcriptome strikingly different from that of adult intestinal stem cells reminiscent of incompletely caudalized progenitors. The receptor Lgr4, but not Lgr5, is essential for their growth. Trop2/Tacstd2 and Cnx43/Gja1, two markers highly enriched in spheroids, are expressed throughout the E14 intestinal epithelium. Comparison of in utero and neonatal lineage tracing using Cnx43-CreER and Lgr5-CreERT2 mice identified spheroid-generating cells as developmental progenitors involved in generation of the prenatal intestinal epithelium. Ex vivo, spheroid cells have the potential to differentiate into organoids, thus qualifying them as a new type of intestinal stem-like cells.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE49803 | GEO | 2014/01/21
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA214963
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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