Yap-lin28a axis targets let7-Wnt pathway to restore progenitors for initiating regeneration

  1. Zhian Ye
  2. Zhongwu Su
  3. Siyu Xie
  4. Yuye Liu
  5. Yongqiang Wang
  6. Xi Xu
  7. Yiqing Zheng
  8. Meng Zhao  Is a corresponding author
  9. Linjia Jiang  Is a corresponding author
  1. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, China
  2. Sun Yat-Sen University, China

Abstract

The sox2 expressing (sox2+) progenitors in adult mammalian inner ear lose the capacity to regenerate while progenitors in the zebrafish lateral line are able to proliferate and regenerate damaged HCs throughout lifetime. To mimic the HC damage in mammals we have established a zebrafish severe injury model to eliminate both progenitors and HCs. The atoh1a expressing (atoh1a+) HC precursors were the main population that survived post severe injury, and gained sox2 expression to initiate progenitor regeneration. In response to severe injury, yap was activated to upregulate lin28a transcription. Severe-injury-induced progenitor regeneration was disabled in lin28a or yap mutants. In contrary, overexpression of lin28a initiated the recovery of sox2+ progenitors. Mechanistically, microRNA let7 acted downstream of lin28a to activate Wnt pathway for promoting regeneration. Our findings that lin28a is necessary and sufficient to regenerate the exhausted sox2+ progenitors shed light on restoration of progenitors to initiate HC regeneration in mammals.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Zhian Ye

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Zhongwu Su

    Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Siyu Xie

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Yuye Liu

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Yongqiang Wang

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Xi Xu

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Yiqing Zheng

    Department of Otolaryngology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Meng Zhao

    Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
    For correspondence
    zhaom38@mail.sysu.edu.cn
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Linjia Jiang

    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    For correspondence
    jianglj7@mail.sysu.edu.cn
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8854-2610

Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (National Key R&D Program of China,2018YFA0108304)

  • Linjia Jiang

National Science Foundation (Youth Project,81800164)

  • Linjia Jiang

National Science Foundation (General Project,31871467)

  • Linjia Jiang

Guangdong Science and Technology Department (basic research project FF0C;2018A030313497)

  • Linjia Jiang

Guangdong Science and Technology Department (The key Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province,2019B020234002)

  • Meng Zhao

Shenzhen Foundation of Science and Technology (JCYJ20170818103626421)

  • Meng Zhao

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

Copyright

© 2020, Ye 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

  • 2,034
    views
  • 464
    downloads
  • 23
    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. Zhian Ye
  2. Zhongwu Su
  3. Siyu Xie
  4. Yuye Liu
  5. Yongqiang Wang
  6. Xi Xu
  7. Yiqing Zheng
  8. Meng Zhao
  9. Linjia Jiang
(2020)
Yap-lin28a axis targets let7-Wnt pathway to restore progenitors for initiating regeneration
eLife 9:e55771.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55771

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.55771

Further reading

    1. Developmental Biology
    Sebastian Deichsel, Lisa Frankenreiter ... Anja C Nagel
    Research Article

    Notch signalling activity regulates hematopoiesis in Drosophila and vertebrates alike. Parasitoid wasp infestation of Drosophila larvae, however, requires a timely downregulation of Notch activity to allow the formation of encapsulation-active blood cells. Here, we show that the Drosophila CSL transcription factor Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)] is phosphorylated at Serine 269 in response to parasitoid wasp infestation. As this phosphorylation interferes with the DNA binding of Su(H), it reversibly precludes its activity. Accordingly, phospho-deficient Su(H)S269A mutants are immune-compromised. A screen for kinases involved in Su(H) phosphorylation identified Pkc53E, required for normal hematopoiesis as well as for parasitoid immune response. Genetic and molecular interactions support the specificity of the Su(H)-Pkc53E relationship. Moreover, phorbol ester treatment inhibits Su(H) activity in vivo and in human cell culture. We conclude that Pkc53E targets Su(H) during parasitic wasp infestation, thereby remodelling the blood cell population required for wasp egg encapsulation.

    1. Developmental Biology
    Shuhei So, Masayo Asakawa, Hitoshi Sawa
    Research Article

    Organogenesis requires the proper production of diverse cell types and their positioning/migration. However, the coordination of these processes during development remains poorly understood. The gonad in C. elegans exhibits a mirror-symmetric structure guided by the migration of distal tip cells (DTCs), which result from asymmetric divisions of somatic gonadal precursors (SGPs; Z1 and Z4). We found that the polarity of Z1 and Z4, which possess mirror-symmetric orientation, is controlled by the redundant functions of the LIN-17/Frizzled receptor and three Wnt proteins (CWN-1, CWN-2, and EGL-20) with distinct functions. In lin-17 mutants, CWN-2 promotes normal polarity in both Z1 and Z4, while CWN-1 promotes reverse and normal polarity in Z1 and Z4, respectively. In contrast, EGL-20 inhibits the polarization of both Z1 and Z4. In lin-17 egl-20 cwn-2 triple mutants with a polarity reversal of Z1, DTCs from Z1 frequently miss-migrate to the posterior side. Our further analysis demonstrates that the mis-positioning of DTCs in the gonad due to the polarity reversal of Z1 leads to mis-migration. Similar mis-migration was also observed in cki-1(RNAi) animals producing ectopic DTCs. These results highlight the role of Wnt signaling in coordinating the production and migration of DTCs to establish a mirror-symmetric organ.