TY - JOUR TI - Wilms Tumor 1b defines a wound-specific sheath cell subpopulation associated with notochord repair AU - Lopez-Baez, Juan Carlos AU - Simpson, Daniel J AU - LLeras Forero, Laura AU - Zeng, Zhiqiang AU - Brunsdon, Hannah AU - Salzano, Angela AU - Brombin, Alessandro AU - Wyatt, Cameron AU - Rybski, Witold AU - Huitema, Leonie F A AU - Dale, Rodney M AU - Kawakami, Koichi AU - Englert, Christoph AU - Chandra, Tamir AU - Schulte-Merker, Stefan AU - Hastie, Nicholas D AU - Patton, E Elizabeth A2 - Bagnat, Michel VL - 7 PY - 2018 DA - 2018/02/06 SP - e30657 C1 - eLife 2018;7:e30657 DO - 10.7554/eLife.30657 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30657 AB - Regenerative therapy for degenerative spine disorders requires the identification of cells that can slow down and possibly reverse degenerative processes. Here, we identify an unanticipated wound-specific notochord sheath cell subpopulation that expresses Wilms Tumor (WT) 1b following injury in zebrafish. We show that localized damage leads to Wt1b expression in sheath cells, and that wt1b+cells migrate into the wound to form a stopper-like structure, likely to maintain structural integrity. Wt1b+sheath cells are distinct in expressing cartilage and vacuolar genes, and in repressing a Wt1b-p53 transcriptional programme. At the wound, wt1b+and entpd5+ cells constitute separate, tightly-associated subpopulations. Surprisingly, wt1b expression at the site of injury is maintained even into adult stages in developing vertebrae, which form in an untypical manner via a cartilage intermediate. Given that notochord cells are retained in adult intervertebral discs, the identification of novel subpopulations may have important implications for regenerative spine disorder treatments. KW - notochord KW - sheath cells KW - heterogeneity KW - Wilms Tumor 1 KW - wound healing KW - vertebrae JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -