Reciprocal analyses in zebrafish and medaka reveal that harnessing the immune response promotes cardiac regeneration

  1. Didier YR Stainier  Is a corresponding author
  2. Shih-Lei Ben Lai  Is a corresponding author
  3. Rubén Marín-Juez
  4. Pedro Luís Moura
  5. Carsten Kuenne
  6. Jason Kuan Han Lai
  7. Ayele Taddese Tsedeke
  8. Stefan Guenther
  9. Mario Looso
  1. Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany
  2. University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Abstract

Zebrafish display a distinct ability to regenerate their heart following injury. However, this ability is not shared by another teleost, the medaka. In order to identify cellular and molecular bases for this difference, we performed comparative transcriptomic analyses following cardiac cryoinjury. This comparison points to major differences in immune cell dynamics between these models. Upon closer examination, we observed delayed and reduced macrophage recruitment in medaka, along with delayed neutrophil clearance. To investigate the role of immune responses in cardiac regeneration, we delayed macrophage recruitment in zebrafish and observed compromised neovascularization, neutrophil clearance, cardiomyocyte proliferation and scar resolution. In contrast, stimulating Toll-like receptor signaling in medaka enhanced immune cell dynamics and promoted neovascularization, neutrophil clearance, cardiomyocyte proliferation and scar resolution. Altogether, these data provide further insight into the complex role of the immune response during regeneration, and serve as a platform to identify and test additional regulators of cardiac repair.

Data availability

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Didier YR Stainier

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    For correspondence
    Didier.Stainier@mpi-bn.mpg.de
    Competing interests
    Didier YR Stainier, Senior editor, eLife.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0382-0026
  2. Shih-Lei Ben Lai

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    For correspondence
    ben.lai@mpi-bn.mpg.de
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1409-4701
  3. Rubén Marín-Juez

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Pedro Luís Moura

    School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Carsten Kuenne

    ECCPS Bioinformatics and deep sequencing platform, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Jason Kuan Han Lai

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Ayele Taddese Tsedeke

    Department of Developmental Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. Stefan Guenther

    ECCPS Bioinformatics and deep sequencing platform, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  9. Mario Looso

    ECCPS Bioinformatics and deep sequencing platform, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.

Funding

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Open-access funding)

  • Didier YR Stainier

The funder had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Marianne Bronner, California Institute of Technology, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All zebrafish and medaka husbandry was performed under standard conditions, and all animal experiments were done in accordance with institutional (MPG) and national ethical and animal welfare guidelines approved by the ethics committee for animal experiments at the Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt, Germany (permit numbers B2-1023 and B2-1111).

Version history

  1. Received: January 30, 2017
  2. Accepted: June 15, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: June 20, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Accepted Manuscript updated: June 22, 2017 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record published: July 5, 2017 (version 3)

Copyright

© 2017, Stainier et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 9,837
    views
  • 1,381
    downloads
  • 191
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Didier YR Stainier
  2. Shih-Lei Ben Lai
  3. Rubén Marín-Juez
  4. Pedro Luís Moura
  5. Carsten Kuenne
  6. Jason Kuan Han Lai
  7. Ayele Taddese Tsedeke
  8. Stefan Guenther
  9. Mario Looso
(2017)
Reciprocal analyses in zebrafish and medaka reveal that harnessing the immune response promotes cardiac regeneration
eLife 6:e25605.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25605

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.25605

Further reading

    1. Developmental Biology
    2. Evolutionary Biology
    Zhuqing Wang, Yue Wang ... Wei Yan
    Research Article

    Despite rapid evolution across eutherian mammals, the X-linked MIR-506 family miRNAs are located in a region flanked by two highly conserved protein-coding genes (SLITRK2 and FMR1) on the X chromosome. Intriguingly, these miRNAs are predominantly expressed in the testis, suggesting a potential role in spermatogenesis and male fertility. Here, we report that the X-linked MIR-506 family miRNAs were derived from the MER91C DNA transposons. Selective inactivation of individual miRNAs or clusters caused no discernible defects, but simultaneous ablation of five clusters containing 19 members of the MIR-506 family led to reduced male fertility in mice. Despite normal sperm counts, motility, and morphology, the KO sperm were less competitive than wild-type sperm when subjected to a polyandrous mating scheme. Transcriptomic and bioinformatic analyses revealed that these X-linked MIR-506 family miRNAs, in addition to targeting a set of conserved genes, have more targets that are critical for spermatogenesis and embryonic development during evolution. Our data suggest that the MIR-506 family miRNAs function to enhance sperm competitiveness and reproductive fitness of the male by finetuning gene expression during spermatogenesis.

    1. Developmental Biology
    Edgar M Pera, Josefine Nilsson-De Moura ... Ivana Milas
    Research Article

    We previously showed that SerpinE2 and the serine protease HtrA1 modulate fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling in germ layer specification and head-to-tail development of Xenopus embryos. Here, we present an extracellular proteolytic mechanism involving this serpin-protease system in the developing neural crest (NC). Knockdown of SerpinE2 by injected antisense morpholino oligonucleotides did not affect the specification of NC progenitors but instead inhibited the migration of NC cells, causing defects in dorsal fin, melanocyte, and craniofacial cartilage formation. Similarly, overexpression of the HtrA1 protease impaired NC cell migration and the formation of NC-derived structures. The phenotype of SerpinE2 knockdown was overcome by concomitant downregulation of HtrA1, indicating that SerpinE2 stimulates NC migration by inhibiting endogenous HtrA1 activity. SerpinE2 binds to HtrA1, and the HtrA1 protease triggers degradation of the cell surface proteoglycan Syndecan-4 (Sdc4). Microinjection of Sdc4 mRNA partially rescued NC migration defects induced by both HtrA1 upregulation and SerpinE2 downregulation. These epistatic experiments suggest a proteolytic pathway by a double inhibition mechanism:

    SerpinE2 ┤HtrA1 protease ┤Syndecan-4 → NC cell migration.