Cell-state transitions and collective cell movement generate an endoderm-like region in gastruloids

  1. Ali Hashmi
  2. Sham Tlili
  3. Pierre Perrin
  4. Molly Lowndes
  5. Hanna Peradziryi
  6. Joshua M Brickman
  7. Alfonso Martínez Arias
  8. Pierre-François Lenne  Is a corresponding author
  1. Aix Marseille University, CNRS, France
  2. University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Abstract

Shaping the animal body plan is a complex process that involves the spatial organization and patterning of the different germ layers. Recent advances in live imaging have started to unravel the cellular choreography underlying this process in mammals, however, the sequence of events transforming an unpatterned cell ensemble into structured territories is largely unknown. Here, using gastruloids -3D aggregates of mouse embryonic stem cells- we study the formation of one of the three germ layers, the endoderm. We show that the endoderm is generated from an epiblast-like homogeneous state by a three-step mechanism: (i) a loss of E-cadherin mediated contacts in parts of the aggregate leading to the appearance of islands of E-cadherin expressing cells surrounded by cells devoid of E-cadherin, (ii) a separation of these two populations with islands of E-cadherin expressing cells flowing toward the aggregate tip, and (iii) their differentiation into an endoderm population. During the flow, the islands of E-cadherin expressing cells are surrounded by cells expressing T-Brachyury, reminiscent of the process occurring at the primitive streak. Consistent with recent in vivo observations, the endoderm formation in the gastruloids does not require an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, but rather a maintenance of an epithelial state for a subset of cells coupled with fragmentation of E-cadherin contacts in the vicinity, and a sorting process. Our data emphasize the role of signaling and tissue flows in the establishment of the body plan.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. The source data and the scripts at https://zenodo.org/record/5727050

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Ali Hashmi

    IBDM, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Sham Tlili

    IBDM, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Pierre Perrin

    IBDM, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Molly Lowndes

    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Hanna Peradziryi

    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Joshua M Brickman

    Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1580-7491
  7. Alfonso Martínez Arias

    Systems Bioengineering, DCEXS, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Pierre-François Lenne

    IBDM, Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Marseille, France
    For correspondence
    pierre-francois.lenne@univ-amu.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1066-7506

Funding

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-19-CE13-0022)

  • Pierre-François Lenne

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-11-LABX-0054)

  • Ali Hashmi
  • Pierre-François Lenne

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-16-CONV-0001)

  • Pierre-François Lenne

Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-INBS-04)

  • Sham Tlili
  • Pierre-François Lenne

Leverhulme Trust (VP2-2015-022)

  • Pierre-François Lenne

Leverhulme Trust (RPG- 2018-356)

  • Pierre-François Lenne

Lundbeckfonden (R198-2015-412)

  • Joshua M Brickman

Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (NNF21CC0073729)

  • Joshua M Brickman

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

Copyright

© 2022, Hashmi 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.

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  1. Ali Hashmi
  2. Sham Tlili
  3. Pierre Perrin
  4. Molly Lowndes
  5. Hanna Peradziryi
  6. Joshua M Brickman
  7. Alfonso Martínez Arias
  8. Pierre-François Lenne
(2022)
Cell-state transitions and collective cell movement generate an endoderm-like region in gastruloids
eLife 11:e59371.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59371

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59371

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