A comparative study of cellular diversity between the Xenopus pronephric and mouse metanephric nephron

• DOI: 10.1016/j.kint.2022.07.027
• Publication Date: 2022-08-31T07:24:03Z
• Authors: Mark E. Corkins; MaryAnne Achieng; Bridget D. DeLay; Vanja Krneta-Stankic; Margo P. Cain; Brandy L. Walker; Jichao Chen; Nils O. Lindström; Rachel K. Miller
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Mice; Xenopus laevis; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Kidney Glomerulus; Animals; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Nephrons; RNA, Messenger; Kidney

AbstractThe kidney is an essential organ that ensures bodily fluid homeostasis and removes soluble waste products from the organism. The functional units within the kidneys are epithelial tubules called nephrons. These tubules take in filtrate from the blood or coelom and selectively reabsorb nutrients through evolutionarily conserved nephron segments, leaving waste product to be eliminated in the urine. Genes coding for functional transporters are segmentally expressed, enabling nephrons to function as selective filters. The developmental patterning program that generates these segments is of great interest. The Xenopus embryonic kidney, the pronephros, has served as a valuable model to identify genes involved in nephron formation and patterning. Prior work has defined the gene expression profiles of Xenopus epithelial nephron segments via in situ hybridization strategies, but our understanding of the cellular makeup of the Xenopus pronephric kidney remains incomplete. Here, we scrutinize the cellular composition of the Xenopus pronephric nephron through comparative analyses with previous Xenopus studies and single-cell mRNA sequencing of the adult mouse kidney, this study reconstructs the cellular makeup of the pronephric kidney and identifies conserved cells, segments, and expression profiles. The data highlight significant conservation in podocytes, proximal and distal tubule cells and divergence in cellular composition underlying the evolution of the corticomedullary axis, while emphasizing the Xenopus pronephros as a model for physiology and disease.Summary StatementAssessment of the conservation of gene expression between functional Xenopus laevis pronephric and mouse metanephric nephrons through single-cell RNA sequencing.