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Nr2f1a maintains atrial nkx2.5 expression to repress pacemaker identity within venous atrial cardiomyocytes of zebrafish

ABSTRACT: Maintenance of cardiomyocyte identity is vital for normal heart development and function. However, our understanding of cardiomyocyte plasticity remains incomplete. Here, we show that sustained expression of the zebrafish transcription factor Nr2f1a prevents the progressive acquisition of ventricular cardiomyocyte (VC) and pacemaker cardiomyocyte (PC) identities within distinct regions of the atrium. Transcriptomic analysis of flow-sorted atrial cardiomyocytes (ACs) from nr2f1a mutant zebrafish embryos showed increased VC marker gene expression and altered expression of core PC regulatory genes, including decreased expression of nkx2.5, a critical repressor of PC differentiation. At the arterial (outflow) pole of the atrium in nr2f1a mutants, cardiomyocytes resolve to VC identity within the expanded atrioventricular canal. However, at the venous (inflow) pole of the atrium, there is a progressive wave of AC transdifferentiation into PCs across the atrium toward the arterial pole. Restoring Nkx2.5 is sufficient to repress PC marker identity in nr2f1a mutant atria and analysis of chromatin accessibility identified a Nr2f1a-dependent nkx2.5 enhancer expressed in the atrial myocardium directly adjacent to PCs. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of the putative nkx2.5 enhancer leads to a loss of Nkx2.5-expressing ACs and expansion of a PC reporter, supporting that Nr2f1a limits PC differentiation within venous ACs via maintaining nkx2.5 expression. The Nr2f-dependent maintenance of AC identity within discrete atrial compartments may provide insights into the molecular etiology of concurrent structural congenital heart defects and associated arrhythmias.

ORGANISM(S): Danio rerio

PROVIDER: GSE194054 | GEO | 2023/05/12

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Central questions like cardiomyocyte subtype emergence during cardiogenesis or availability of cardiomyocyte subtypes for cell replacement therapy require selective identification and purification of atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes. However, characterization and implementation of pure cardiomyocyte subtypes is still challenging due to technical limitations. Our aim was to identify surface markers enabling the selective detection and purification of atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes from mouse hearts. In a surface marker screen we found differential expression of CD49f in atrial and ventricular embryonic cardiomyocytes (E13.5). By flow cytometry we could correlate a high CD49f expression with MLC-2a on the single cell level; a low CD49f expression corresponded to MLC-2v. Based on the persisting differential CD49f expression we developed purification protocols for cardiomyocytes subtypes from the developing mouse heart. Flow sorting of E15.5 hearts into ErbB-2+/CD49flow and ErbB-2+/CD49fhigh cells led to a selective depletion (CD49flow) or enrichment of MLC-2a+ cells (CD49fhigh). We found a corresponding CD49f-dependent distribution of MLC-2a when pre-enriched neonatal cardiomyocytes (P2) were flow-sorted into CD49flow and CD49fhigh. Atrial and ventricular identity was confirmed by expression profiling and patch clamp analysis of sorted embryonic hearts, which unequivocally demonstrated that the sorted cells were viable and functional. For the first time, we introduce a non-genetic, antibody-based approach to specifically isolate atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes from mouse hearts of various developmental stages. This newly gained capability of obtaining highly pure, viable cells will facilitate in-depths characterization of the individual cellular subsets and will aid translational research and therapeutic applications. The dataset comprises four different cardiomyocytes subtypes from the developing mouse heart. Embryonic (E15.5) hearts were dissociated and flow-sorted into ErbB-2+/CD49flow and ErbB-2+/CD49fhigh cardiomyocytes. Neonatal (P2) hearts were dissociated, contaminating non-myocytes were removed by MACS depletion, and the purified cardiomyocytes were flow-sorted into CD49flow and CD49fhigh cardiomyocytes. Four biological replicates were available for each sample groups. Microarray analysis was conducted on the Agilent Whole Mouse Genome Oligo Microarray 8x60K platform.

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Nr2f1a maintains atrial nkx2.5 expression to repress pacemaker identity within venous atrial cardiomyocytes of zebrafish

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