1
|
Wen B, Li E, Wang G, Kalin TR, Gao D, Lu P, Kalin TV, Kalinichenko VV. CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing Allows Generation of the Mouse Lung in a Rat. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2024. [PMID: 38507610 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202306-0964oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024] Open
Abstract
RATIONALE Recent efforts in bioengineering and embryonic stem cell (ESC) technology allowed the generation of ESC-derived mouse lung tissues in transgenic mice missing critical morphogenetic genes. While epithelial cell lineages were efficiently generated from ESC, other cell types were mosaic. A complete contribution of donor ESC to lung tissue has never been achieved. The mouse lung has never been generated in a rat. OBJECTIVE To generate the mouse lung in a rat. METHODS CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing was used to disrupt the Nkx2-1 gene in rat 1-cell zygotes. Interspecies mouse-rat chimeras were produced by injection of wild-type mouse ESC into Nkx2-1-deficient rat embryos with lung agenesis. The contribution of mouse ESC to the lung tissue was examined by immunostaining, flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Peripheral pulmonary and thyroid tissues were absent in rat embryos after CRISPR/Cas9-mediated disruption of the Nkx2-1 gene. Complementation of rat Nkx2-1-/- blastocysts with mouse ESC restored pulmonary and thyroid structures in mouse-rat chimeras leading to a near 99% contribution of ESC to all respiratory cell lineages. Epithelial, endothelial, hematopoietic, and stromal cells in ESC-derived lungs were highly differentiated and exhibited lineage-specific gene signatures similar to respiratory cells from the normal mouse lung. Analysis of receptor-ligand interactions revealed normal signaling networks between mouse ESC-derived respiratory cells differentiated in a rat. CONCLUSIONS A combination of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and blastocyst complementation was used to produce mouse lungs in rats, making an important step toward future generations of human lungs using large animals as "bioreactors".
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bingqiang Wen
- The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, 42283, Phoenix Children's Research Institute, Department of Child Health, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
| | - Enhong Li
- The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, 42283, Phoenix Children's Research Institute, Department of Child Health, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
| | - Guolun Wang
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2518, Division of Pulmonary Biology, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
| | - Timothy R Kalin
- University of Cincinnati, 2514, College of Arts and Sciences, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
| | - Dongfeng Gao
- China Agricultural University, 34752, State Key Laboratory of Animal Biotech Breeding, College of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Peixin Lu
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2518, Division of Biomedical Informatics, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
| | - Tanya V Kalin
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary Biology, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
- The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, 42283, Phoenix Children's Research Institute, Department of Child Health, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
| | - Vladimir V Kalinichenko
- The University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, 42283, Phoenix Children's Research Institute, Department of Child Health, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
- Phoenix Children's Hospital, 14524, Division of Neonatology, Phoenix, Arizona, United States;
| |
Collapse
|