RRC ID 85209
Author Derrick CJ, Sánchez-Posada J, Hussein F, Tessadori F, Pollitt EJG, Savage AM, Wilkinson RN, Chico TJ, van Eeden FJ, Bakkers J, Noël ES.
Title Asymmetric Hapln1a drives regionalized cardiac ECM expansion and promotes heart morphogenesis in zebrafish development.
Journal Cardiovasc Res
Abstract AIMS:Vertebrate heart development requires the complex morphogenesis of a linear tube to form the mature organ, a process essential for correct cardiac form and function, requiring coordination of embryonic laterality, cardiac growth, and regionalized cellular changes. While previous studies have demonstrated broad requirements for extracellular matrix (ECM) components in cardiac morphogenesis, we hypothesized that ECM regionalization may fine tune cardiac shape during heart development.
METHODS AND RESULTS:Using live in vivo light sheet imaging of zebrafish embryos, we describe a left-sided expansion of the ECM between the myocardium and endocardium prior to the onset of heart looping and chamber ballooning. Analysis using an ECM sensor revealed the cardiac ECM is further regionalized along the atrioventricular axis. Spatial transcriptomic analysis of gene expression in the heart tube identified candidate genes that may drive ECM expansion. This approach identified regionalized expression of hapln1a, encoding an ECM cross-linking protein. Validation of transcriptomic data by in situ hybridization confirmed regionalized hapln1a expression in the heart, with highest levels of expression in the future atrium and on the left side of the tube, overlapping with the observed ECM expansion. Analysis of CRISPR-Cas9-generated hapln1a mutants revealed a reduction in atrial size and reduced chamber ballooning. Loss-of-function analysis demonstrated that ECM expansion is dependent upon Hapln1a, together supporting a role for Hapln1a in regionalized ECM modulation and cardiac morphogenesis. Analysis of hapln1a expression in zebrafish mutants with randomized or absent embryonic left-right asymmetry revealed that laterality cues position hapln1a-expressing cells asymmetrically in the left side of the heart tube.
CONCLUSION:We identify a regionalized ECM expansion in the heart tube which promotes correct heart development, and propose a novel model whereby embryonic laterality cues orient the axis of ECM asymmetry in the heart, suggesting these two pathways interact to promote robust cardiac morphogenesis.
Volume 118(1)
Pages 226-240
Published 2022-1-7
DOI 10.1093/cvr/cvab004
PII 6146401
PMID 33616638
PMC PMC8752364
MeSH Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Body Patterning Extracellular Matrix / genetics Extracellular Matrix / metabolism* Extracellular Matrix Proteins / genetics Extracellular Matrix Proteins / metabolism* Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Heart / embryology* Hyaluronic Acid / metabolism Morphogenesis* Mutation Myocardium / metabolism* Proteoglycans / genetics Proteoglycans / metabolism* Signal Transduction Transcriptome Zebrafish / embryology Zebrafish / genetics Zebrafish / metabolism* Zebrafish Proteins / genetics Zebrafish Proteins / metabolism*
IF 8.168
Resource
Zebrafish UAS:RFP