Regulation of blood cell transdifferentiation by oxygen sensing neurons
Posted on: 3 June 2020 , updated on: 8 June 2020
Preprint posted on 28 May 2020
Protean plasmatocytes: how sensory neurons instruct blood cells to change their fate
Selected by Sophia FriesenCategories: cell biology, developmental biology
Background:
The process of cell differentiation, by which unspecialized cells can gain functions ranging from conduction of electrical impulses to production of stomach acid, is classically modeled as one-way only. Generally speaking, less differentiated cells develop through a series of progressively more limited stages, eventually arriving at their final differentiated state. However, in some cases, fully differentiated cells can turn into other specialized cell types, a process called transdifferentiation. In C. elegans, for instance, a differentiated hindgut cell ultimately leaves its epithelial layer and develops into a motor neuron [1], and regeneration of the adult newt eye requires iris cells to turn into lens cells [2].
In vitro, blood cells seem particularly adept at changing from one type to the other – experimental manipulations of transcription factor expression in vertebrates can convert T cells to natural killer cells [3], red blood cell precursors to platelet precursors [4], or B cells into macrophages [5].
Blood cell transdifferentiation also occurs in vivo in Drosophila. One of the three blood cell types found in Drosophila larvae can transdifferentiate into two other blood cell types, under conditions of immune stress or even just normal development [6][7]. Transdifferentiation could potentially allow organisms to adapt their development to the environment, but it’s important that this process is regulated to achieve the appropriate balance of cell types. Here, the authors ask what regulates blood cell transdifferentiation in vivo, and uncover a surprising role for a group of oxygen-sensing peripheral neurons that form a niche for developing blood cells.
Main findings:
Drosophila have several kinds of differentiated blood cells, including plasmatocytes, which are specialized to engulf and destroy pathogens, as well as the poetically named crystal cells, which store and secrete enzymes that defend against infection [8]. Previously, live imaging of developing blood cells had suggested that differentiated plasmatocytes could turn directly into crystal cells [7].
To confirm that some crystal cells originated from plasmatocytes, the authors performed a creative experiment that relied on the ability of plasmatocytes to engulf large particles. The authors injected fluorescent beads into a developing larva and saw that plasmatocytes rapidly engulfed the beads. But later, as blood cells continued to develop, the authors started to observe crystal cells containing the beads. Neither crystal cells nor undifferentiated progenitor cells are able to uptake the beads, so the only explanation for bead-containing crystal cells is that they used to be plasmatocytes. The majority of crystal cells eventually became labeled by beads, indicating that most of them arose through transdifferentiation.
What controls the conversion of plasmatocytes to crystal cells? Intriguingly, the authors suspected that this process might be regulated by the peripheral nervous system. While the canonical role of sensory neurons is to detect information about the environment and pass it along to the rest of the nervous system, they also cluster with blood cell progenitors and directly support their growth [9]. Crystal cells accumulate in especially large numbers around the sensory cone neurons, a cluster of oxygen-sensing neurons that help larvae detect low-oxygen conditions and avoid suffocation [10]; this close association prompted the authors to ask whether these neurons also regulate blood cell transdifferentiation.
The authors used genetic tools to either overactivate the sensory cone neurons or kill them outright. Increased sensory cone activity increased crystal cell number, and destruction of the sensory cone neurons reduced crystal cell number, demonstrating that these specific neurons regulate blood cell transdifferentiation. Finally, the authors showed a direct role for oxygen sensing in this process by raising larvae in low-oxygen conditions and observing fewer crystal cells. Blocking the ability of sensory cone neurons to sense oxygen by knocking down part of the oxygen-sensing signaling pathway also reduced crystal cell numbers, confirming that the oxygen-sensing function of sensory cone neurons regulates conversion between blood cell types.
Why I picked this paper:
I love that this paper challenges two common simplifying assumptions about development: that cells follow a linear path from undifferentiated to terminally differentiated, and that the peripheral nervous system only communicates with other neurons. This work is a fascinating reminder that biology is always more complex and interconnected than we expect it to be.
I also thought that the authors’ lineage-tracing experiment, using fluorescent beads to track cells with the current or historical ability to do phagocytosis, was a really interesting and creative way to show that one blood cell type can turn into another. I’m used to thinking about forms of lineage tracing that rely on differential gene expression, but using cells’ different abilities to uptake a reporter is a novel idea for me.
Questions for the authors:
- Since the oxygen-sensing Gycs are activated under low oxygen conditions [Morton 04], how do you explain the fact that Gyc knockdown and hypoxia lead to the same reduction in crystal cell numbers? Wouldn’t you expect those two experiments to produce opposite results?
- Do you think there’s an adaptive advantage to plasmatocyte-to-crystal cell transdifferentiation being under the control of oxygen levels?
- What do you think the intermediate state between plasmatocytes and crystal cells looks like? Do plasmatocytes de-differentiate before turning into crystal cells?
References:
- Jarriault S, Schwab Y, Greenwald I. A Caenorhabditis elegans model for epithelial-neuronal transdifferentiation. PNAS USA 105(10): 3790-3795 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0712159105
- Hayashi T, Mizuno N, Ueda Y, Okamoto M, Kondoh H. FGF2 triggers iris-derived lens regeneration in newt eye. Mech Dev 121: 519-526 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mod.2004.04.010
- Li P, Burke S, Wang J, Chen X, Ortiz M, Lee SC, Lu D, Campos L, Goulding D, Ng BL, Dougan G, Huntly B, Gottgens B, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG, Colucci F, Liu P. Reprogramming of T cells to natural killer-like cells upon Bcl11b deletion. Science 329(5987): 85-89 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1188063
- Siripin D, Kheolamai P, Yaowalak UP, Supokawej A, Wattanapanitch M, Klincumhom N, Laowtammathron C, Issaragrisil S. Transdifferentiation of erythroblasts to megakaryocytes using FLII and ERG transcription factors. Thromb Haemost 114: 593-602 (2015).
- Di Tullio A, Vu Manh TP, Schubert A, Castellano G, Mansson R, Graf T. CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBP(alpha))-induced transdifferentiation of pre-B cells into macrophages involves no overt retrodifferentiation. PNAS USA 108(41): 17016-17021 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112169108
- Markus R, Laurinyecz B, Kurucz E, Honti V, Bajusz I, Sipos B, Somogyi K, Kronhamn J, Hultmark D, Ando I. Sessile hemocytes as a hematopoietic compartment in Drosophila melanogaster. PNAS USA 106(12): 4805-4809 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0801766106
- Leitao AB, Sucena E. Drosophila sessile hemocyte clusters are true hematopoietic tissues that regulate larval blood cell differentiation. Elife 4 (2015). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06166.001
- Binggeli O, Neyen C, Poidevin M, Lemaitre B. Prophenoloxidase activation is required for survival to microbial infections in PLOS Pathogens 10(5): e1004067 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004067
- Makhijani K, Alexander B, Tanaka T, Rulifson E, Brückner K. The peripheral nervous system supports blood cell homing and survival in the Drosophila Development 138: 5379-5391 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.067322
- Morton DB. Behavioral responses to hypoxia and hyperoxia in Drosophila larvae: molecular and neuronal sensors. Fly 5(2): 119-125 (2011). https://doi.org/10.4161/fly.5.2.14284
doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/prelights.21530
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