Villification of the intestinal epithelium is driven by Foxl1

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4882679/v1

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Villification of the intestinal epithelium is driven by Foxl1

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4882679/v1

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The primitive gut tube of mammals initially forms as a simple cylinder consisting of the endoderm-derived, pseudostratified epithelium and the mesoderm-derived surrounding mesenchyme. During mid-gestation a dramatic transformation occurs in which the epithelium is both restructured into its final cuboidal form and simultaneously folded and refolded to create intestinal villi and intervillus regions, the incipient crypts. Here we show that the mesenchymal winged helix transcription factor Foxl1, itself induced by epithelial hedgehog signaling, controls villification by activating BMP and PDGFRa as well as planar cell polarity genes in epithelial-adjacent telocyte progenitors, both directly and in a feed- forward loop with Foxo3. In the absence of Foxl1-dependent mesenchymal signaling, villus formation is delayed, the separation of epithelial cells into mitotic intervillus and postmitotic villus cells impaired, and the differentiation of secretory progenitors blocked. Thus, Foxl1 orchestrates key events during the epithelial transition of the fetal mammalian gut.

Biological sciences/Developmental biology/Stem-cell niche

Biological sciences/Developmental biology/Organogenesis

Villus formation

epithelial-mesenchymal cross talk

telocyte

transcription factor networks

The surface area of the human small intestine measures about 30 m², or the size of half a badminton court¹. This large area is required to enable effective digestion and absorption of nutrients. The major factor responsible for increasing the size of the intestinal epithelium is villification, or the formation of intestinal villi that project into the gut lumen, which increase the surface area compared to a flat epithelium by close to 100-fold¹. Remarkably, while villi are a feature of the small intestine in mammals and birds, they arise by divergent morphogenetic mechanisms. Thus, villus formation in birds is dependent on the sequential formation of first inner circular, then longitudinal, and finally muscularis mucosa muscles which coincide with the appearance of epithelial ridges, zigzags, and villi, respectively². In contrast, in mammals, villus formation can proceed in the absence of tensile forces generated by intestinal muscles; rather, it is dependent on PDGFRa/BMP positive mesenchymal cell clusters³, which themselves are induced by epithelial hedgehog signaling⁴.

At the onset of villification, also termed ‘epithelial transition’, the endoderm-derived epithelium forms a simple tube of pseudostratified cells with a layer thickness of ~ 50 µm. This pseudostratified epithelium, characterized by cell cycle-dependent interkinetic nuclear migration⁵, is then changed to a columnar epithelium coincident with villus formation. BMP signals from villus cluster mesenchymal cells restrict proliferation in the overlying epithelium so that cycling cells become restricted to intervillus regions, the precursors of the small intestinal proliferative lcrypts present in the adult. The critical role of BMP signaling in villus cluster formation was established by explant cultures of presumptive small intestine from 13.5 dpc (days post conception) embryos treated with localized sources of BMP or the pan-BMP inhibitor dorsomorphin⁶.

The induction of villus formation and the formation of villus clusters in the underlying mesenchyme are dependent on epithelial to mesenchymal hedgehog signaling. Thus, both Sonic Hedgehog (shh) and Indian Hedgehog (Ihh) are expressed in the epithelium, while the hedgehog receptors (Ptch1 and Ptch2) as well as the downstream transcription factor Gli1 are expressed in the mesenchyme^{7, 8}. Because the two epithelial hedgehog proteins are partially redundant, Madison and colleagues addressed the role of hedgehog signaling in the developing intestine using epithelial expression of the pan-hedgehog inhibitor Hhip⁹. Suppression of hedgehog signaling impaired villus formation, which was partially due to decreased BMP expression in the underlying mesenchyme.

Previously, the winged helix transcription factor Foxl1 (formerly termed Fhh6) was shown to be expressed in the first one to two cell layers of the mesenchyme juxtaposed to the epithelium before villus formation by mRNA in situ hybridization¹⁰, which was recently confirmed by immunofluorescence staining¹¹, making it an excellent candidate as regulator of key developmental processes. Mice null for Foxl1 exhibit delayed villus formation and a defect in the inhibition of epithelial proliferation in nascent villi, suggesting Foxl1 as an important transcription factor controlling mesenchymal to epithelial signaling¹⁰. A link to epithelial hedgehog signaling was subsequently established by the identification of functionally relevant binding sites for the hedgehog-dependent Gli transcription factors within an evolutionarily ultra-conserved enhancer at the Foxl1 locus¹². Foxl1 expression was induced in fetal gut mesenchyme explants treated with Shh, while its mRNA levels were reduced in mice deficient for the hedgehog dependent transcription factors Gli2 and Gli3. Taken together, these findings suggested that Foxl1 is a critical mediator of epithelial to mesenchymal cross-talk during villus formation. Here, we set out to determine the molecular targets and pathways controlled by Foxl1 during intestinal villification.

Histological analysis of the small intestine shows that as villus formation is well on its way in wild type fetuses at 15.5 dpc, while this process has barely been initiated in Foxl1 deficient mice (Fig. 1A,B). Even two days later, at 17.5 dpc, villification is abnormal in mutant mice, with apparent bridging of nascent villi across the gut lumen, likely reflecting persistent epithelial ridges (Fig. 1C, D), a phenotype that persists at 18.5 dpc (Fig. 1E,F). In order to investigate this phenotype in three dimensions, we performed scanning electron microscopy. As shown in Fig. 1G-L, in control mice villification occurs through the formation of regularly spaced short invaginations into the gut lumen, which by 18.5 dpc have progressed to form elongated villi. This process is dramatically altered by loss of Foxl1, with absence of the regularly spaced nascent villi and presence instead of long epithelial ridges at 15.5 dpc (yellow arrow in Fig. 1H), which persist until late gestation (Fig. 1J, red arrow). The presence of epithelial ridges instead of villi is reminiscent of the phenotype seen in small intestinal explants treated with the pan-BMP inhibitor dorsomorphin⁶, a connection we explore further below.

Fetal gut telocytes progenitors exist in two subpopulations

The inclusion of tdTomato in the recently developed Foxl1 mutant allele employed here¹³ enabled us to follow the fate and determine the molecular properties of Foxl1-positive cells embryos heterozygous and homozygous for this Foxl1 null allele. Of note, the Foxl1 phenotype is recessive, as Foxl1 heterozygous mice are indistinguishable from wild type controls^{10, 14–16}. We performed scRNAseq on the proximal half of the small intestine of 15.5 dpc FoxL1^{CreER-tdTom/+} fetuses (Fig. 2A,B). As shown in the UMAP analysis in Fig. 2C and D, Foxl1⁺ cells segregate into two closely related cell clusters, which we termed ‘telocyte progenitors 1 and 2’. A list of marker genes for all cell populations shown in Fig. 2C is given in Supplementary Table 1. Telocyte progenitors 1 express high levels of Pdgfra and multiple Bmp mRNAs (Fig. 1E), and thus most likely correspond to ‘villus cluster cells’, i.e the PDGFRa positive cells important in villus formation originally identified by Karlsson and colleagues³. By exclusion, the telocyte progenitor 2 population likely represents Foxl1⁺ cells directly adjacent to the intervillus epithelium, i.e. the presumptive future crypt cells. Interestingly, we identified Glp2r, encoding the GLP2 receptor, as another gene predominantly expressed in telocyte progenitor 1 cells, and confirm the localization of the Glp2r mRNA to villus cluster cells by RNAscope analysis (Fig. 2F,G). A further telocyte progenitor 1 marker is the Zinc-finger transcription factor Spalt like transcription factor 1 (Sall1), which is part of the NuRD transcriptional repressor complex (Fig. 2H,I). Sall1/Foxl1 double positive cells can be seen to also mark a cluster of cells that appears to be in the process of initiating a new villus (Fig. 2I). Importantly, this single cell analysis clearly shows that Foxl1⁺ cells are distinct from myofibroblast, interstitial cells of Cajal, and pericytes, identified by the expression of Acta2^med/Myh11^med/Des^med/Tagln^med, Etv1⁺/Kit⁺/Acta^low, and Cspg4⁺/Pdgfrb⁺/Abcc9⁺ or Abcc9⁺/Ndufa4l2⁺, respectively (Fig. 2C). Major hallmarks of the telocyte progenitor 1 and 2 populations are summarized in the graphic shown in Fig. 2J.

Expression of PDGFRa in telocyte progenitors is dependent on Foxl1

Next, we analyzed the expression profile of the fetal small intestine of Foxl1 null (FoxL1^{CreER-tdTom/CreER-tdTom}) mice and compared them to those of heterozygous fetuses. Note that in both control and Foxl1 null fetuses, Foxl1-expressing cells are localized to the mesodermal cell layer that is directly juxtaposed to the developing epithelium, and loss of Foxl1 does not affect telocyte progenitor number (Fig. 3A). The UMAP plot shown in Fig. 3B clearly demonstrates that the telocyte progenitor 1 population is dramatically reduced in abundance in the Foxl1 null intestine. As mentioned above, among the markers of the telocyte progenitor 1 cells is PDGFRa. The scRNAseq data shown in Fig. 3C as well as the immunofluorescence staining presented in Fig. 3D demonstrate that PDGFRa expression is Foxl1 dependent. To determine if Pdgfra is a direct target of Foxl1, we performed Cut-and-Run assays on telocytes from 15.5 dpc fetal gut. However, we found no Foxl1 binding event within 10 kb of the Pdgfra promoter (data not shown).

It was previously reported that the winged helix transcription factor Foxo3 is a transcriptional activator of Pdgfra, which binds to an evolutionarily conserved cis-regulatory element in its proximal promoter¹⁷. Therefore, we hypothesized that Foxl1 might indirectly control Pdgfra via activation of Foxo3. Using Cut-and-Run of sorted fetal telocytes, we indeed found several Foxl1 binding sites in the Foxo3 promoter (Fig. 3E). In addition, our scRNAseq data show a reduction of Foxo3 transcript levels in the telocyte progenitor 1 population of Foxl1 null fetuses (Fig. 3F). These data suggest indirect regulation of the Pdgfra gene by Foxl1 through a transcription factor cascade via Foxo3.

Foxl1 controls multiple Bmp genes in telocyte progenitor cells

Next, we focused on BMP proteins, as BMP signaling from the mesoderm to the epithelium is critical for villus cluster formation⁶. Telocyte-produced BMPs enriched in the villus cluster cells signal to the overlaying endoderm to inhibit Wnt signaling and limit proliferation (Fig. 4A). High expression of several BMP genes was present in particular in villus custer telocyte-progenitor 1 cells (Fig. 4B). In case of BMP4, expression also extends to Foxl1 negative GPX3 + FLCs; however, its levels are clearly reduced specifically in Foxl1-deficient telocytes (Fig. 4B). To determine if BMP signaling to the epithelium is impaired by this reduction in telocyte BMP expression, we performed immunostaining for phosphorylated SMAD1/5 (Fig. 4C). Nuclear pSMAD1/5 is clearly detectable in epithelial cells in the villus tip but not intervillus regions in control embryos. In contrast, epithelial cells in Foxl1 null mice are devoid of signal, confirming loss of active BMP signaling to the epithelium.

When analyzing the pSMAD1/5 staining, we also noticed signal in nuclei of mesenchymal cells within the invaginating villi, with most of them negative for the Foxl1-tdTomato signal. These findings suggest unexpected bi-directional signaling of villus tip telocytes to both epithelium and neighboring mesenchymal cells. At present, the significance of this observation is unknown; however, the pSMAD1/5 signal in mesenchymal cells is also Foxl1-dependent (Fig. 4C).

Loss of mesenchymal BMP signals is expected to result in de-inhibition of Wnt signaling in the epithelium overlying villus cluster telocytes. Indeed, we found expression of the Wnt target gene Sox9 expanded from the developing crypts to nascent villi in the Foxl1 null fetal intestine (Fig. 4D). Likewise, epithelial proliferation was not confined to the nascent crypts but extended to the villus epithelium in mutant mice (Fig. 4D). Thus, Foxl1 is a critical factor required for the demarcation of the postmitotic villus from the mitotic intervillus epithelium. The schema in Fig. 4E summarizes these findings.

Foxl1 is required for mesenchymal expression of planar cell polarity genes

Patterning of the developing gut epithelium is clearly perturbed in the absence of Foxl1, and the hyperproliferation of the epithelium due to lack of BMP signaling documented above regionally leads to an apparent multilayered epithelium, in which mesenchyme-distal cells undergo apoptosis as indicated by cleaved caspase 3 staining (Fig. 5A). Recently, planar cell polarity genes were identified among the mesenchymal Gli targets in the fetal gut, and it was demonstrated further that the GLI2 target gene Fat4 is required for villus development during the epithelial transition¹⁸. The discovery that the PCP pathway acts within the mesenchymal compartment to structure stromal cells was surprising, as typically PCP pathway function has been reported within epithelial cell layers¹⁹. As documented above, before the epithelial transition, Foxl1 + cells form a uniform cell layer with a depth of only one to two cells surrounding the primitive gut tube, which is then patterned into the telocyte progenitor 1 (villus cluster) and telocyte progenitor 2 (crypt base) cells, possibly with the involvement of the PCP system. We found that several PCP genes (Fat4, Wnt5a, Vangl1 and 2) exhibit reduced expression in the absence of Foxl1 (Fig. 5B). Using our Cut and Run data, we found Foxl1 binding in the promoter of Fat4, suggesting a direct regulatory relationship (Fig. 5C).

Rao-Bhatia and colleagues had found villification defects in mice with mutations in the PCP gene Fat4, which were worsened by simultaneous heterozygous loss of Vangl2 ¹⁸. This defect was preceded by a reduction in the number of epithelial T-folds, characteristic invaginations of the epithelium that form the boundaries of developing villi and that can be visualized by staining with the apical membrane marker Ezrin. In order to evaluate if the reduced expression of PCP genes in Foxl1 null mice impacts epithelial remodeling, we stained small intestinal sections from fetuses at developmental stages spanning villification (13.5 to 15.5 dpc) for Ezrin to identify T-folds and PDGFRa to label villus cluster cells. As shown in Fig. 5D-F, the number of T-folds is clearly reduced in the Foxl1-deficient intestine, coinciding with the loss of PDGFRa expression in telocyte progenitors. Next, we employed staining for F-actin to assess the orientation of stromal cells in the developing intestine. As shown in Fig. 5G, while mesenchymal cells in the control fetal gut reorient their major axis to be parallel to the invaginating villi, this process fails to occur in Foxl1 null mice, supporting the notion of failed planar cell polarity in stromal cells.

Loss of Foxl1 impacts epithelial gene expression profiles

As shown above, Foxl1 deficiency impacts the patterning of the overlying epithelium, with many villus tip epithelial cells remaining in the cell cycle (Fig. 4D). We had also noted a shift in the UMAP pattern of epithelial cells between control and Foxl1 null cells in 15.5 dpc embryos (green box in Fig. 3B). To address this issue further, we reclustered the epithelial cells via UMAP. Figure 6A shows that fetal gut epithelial cells of control embryos partition into two major groups, which we identified as ‘secretory progenitors’ and ‘undifferentiated epithelial cells’ based on their expression profile. The heatmap in Fig. 6B shows the 225 most differentially expressed genes between these two clusters (false discovery rate < 10%; absolute fold-change > 2), while Fig. 6C indicates selected markers genes for each cell type. Fetal secretory progenitors are characterized by high levels of the mRNAs for transcription factors Klf4, Spdef, and Sox4, known to be critical for secretory cell differentiation^20–22. Undifferentiated epithelial cells in contrast exhibit strong expression of Sox9 (which marks them as proliferating intervilllus cells as seen in Fig. 4D) as well as markers of the absorptive enterocyte lineage (Alpi, the gene for intestinal alkaline phosphatase, Fabp1, encoding fatty acid binding protein 1, Apoa4, encoding Apolipoprotein A4 which is important in intestinal cholesterol absorption, and Slc16a1, encoding the monocarboxylic acid transporter for lactate).

Next, we added epithelial cells from Foxl1 null embryos to the UMAP plot and found that they are largely confined to the undifferentiated epithelial cell cluster (Fig. 6D). When we quantified the proportion of cells in each cluster, we found a striking loss of secretory progenitor cells in Foxl1 null embryos (Fig. 6E). Finally, we performed gene set enrichment analysis to search for pathways that are differentially regulated in the absence of Foxl1. As shown in Fig. 6F, the response to BMP signaling, negative regulation of epithelial proliferation, and establishment of planar cell polarity were all strongly enriched among the genes more highly expressed in the control gut epithelium, confirming that loss of telocyte Foxl1 has a major impact on the development of the fetal intestinal epithelium. Finally, we confirmed these findings by immunofluorescent staining for markers of the secretory cell lineage. Staining for Agr2 (Anterior gradient protein 2 homolog), a protein disulfide isomerase required for the formation of mixed disulfides in intestinal mucins (Fig. 6G), and its substrate Muc2 (Mucin2), the major mucin of intestinal goblet cells (Fig. 6H), are both expressed in the embryonic day 15.5 control intestine in secretory cell progenitors, but completely absent from the Foxl1 null gut, confirming the findings from our single cell RNAseq analysis.

Villus formation is a fascinating and obviously essential process in vertebrate gut development and depends on reciprocal epithelial-to-mesenchymal cross talk. Epithelial hedgehog proteins are among the earliest signals emanating from the endoderm during organogenesis of the gut. Consequently, inhibition of hedgehog signaling with neutralizing antibodies or ablation of either Shh (sonic hedgehog) or Ihh (Indian hedgehog) causes impairment of gut development and villus formation^{7, 8}. Hedgehog proteins signal via their receptor Ptch1 (patched 1), expressed exclusively in the gut mesoderm, to stabilize the DNA-binding transcription factors Gli2 and Gli3. In 2006, computational analysis of evolutionarily conserved enhancers led to the identification of an ultra-conserved putative enhancer located between the neighboring Foxl1 and Foxf1 genes²³. We identified seven Gli binding sites in this genomic region, some conserved from Fugu to human, and showed through in vitro and in vivo studies that both Foxl1 and Foxf1 are Gli target genes¹². Here, we demonstrate that Foxl1-expressing telocyte progenitors are partitioned into two major subpopulations with distinct gene expression profiles. Telocyte progenitors 1 and 2 correspond to telocytes in the villus clusters and those adjacent to developing crypts, respectively.

Villification is strongly impaired in the absence of Foxl1, and abnormal proliferation persist in epithelial cells in the developing villi. We attribute this to the loss of BMP signaling as multiple Bmp genes exhibit reduced expression in absence of Foxl1. BMP signaling had been established by Walton and colleagues as key factor of villus formation⁶.

Recently, planar cell polarity genes were identified among the mesenchymal Gli2 targets in the fetal gut, and it was demonstrated that the Gli2 target Fat4 is required for villus development during the epithelial transition¹⁸. The discovery that the PCP pathway acts within the mesenchymal compartment to structure stromal cells is novel and exciting, as typically PCP pathway function had been reported within epithelial cell layers¹⁹. The model of villification proposed by Rao-Bhatia and colleagues states that activation of Gli2 in telocyte progenitors opposite to the hedgehog-secreting epithelium is sufficient to activate Fat4 and other planar cell polarity genes directly¹⁸. Our data indicate that PCP induction in the developing gut mesenchyme is more complex than proposed by Rao-Bhatia and colleagues and depends not only on GLI proteins but also on winged helix transcription factors active in telocyte progenitors. We document by scRNAseq analysis of the proximal small intestine of 15.5 dpc fetuses that expression of planar cell polarity genes including Fat4 is enriched in Foxl1 + telocyte progenitors and reduced dramatically in the absence of Foxl1 (Fig. 5). Therefore, we propose a feed- forward loop for the regulation of stromal planar cell polarity genes, in which Gli2 activates both Foxl1 and Fat4 (and related targets), while Foxl1 also activates planar cell polarity gene expression in epithelium-adjacent stromal cells in a coherent feed-forward loop (Fig. 7). Loss of the telocyte transcription factor Foxl1 has a major secondary impact on the overlying epithelium, were reduced BMP signaling leads to loss of secretory progenitor differentiation and retention of proliferating epithelial cells overlying villus cluster cells.

In conclusion, we have shown that the winged helix transcription factor, expressed in endoderm-adjacent mesodermal telocytes, is critical for the epithelial transition, epithelial gene expression, and ordered villus formation via the regulation of BMP, PDGFRa, and PCP signaling molecules.

Mice

All animal procedures were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Office of Animal Welfare at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted under protocol 804436. The mice used in this study were housed in a Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) facility at the University of Pennsylvania's animal center. They were individually housed in ventilated cages and provided with controlled temperature, humidity, a 12-hour light-dark cycle, a standard rodent chow diet, and constant access to water.C57BL/6 wild-type mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratory (Stock number: 000664). The Foxl1CreERT2-TdTomato gene replacement allele was described previously¹³.

For embryonic studies, embryonic day 0.5 (0.5 dpc) was defined as noon on the day when the copulatory plug was observed. Since homozygotes of the Foxl1CreERT2-TdTomato gene replacement allele are viable and fertile in adulthood, the Foxl1 null embryos were generated by either crossing two heterozygotes or crossing one homozygote with a heterozygote. Single cells for the Cut & Run experiment were isolated from dissected embryonic small intestines at 15.5 dpc, which were obtained by crossing Foxl1CreERT2- tdTomato heterozygous mice with C57BL/6 wild-type mice.

Embryonic data were collected from developmental stages before (13.5 dpc), during (14.5 dpc), and after (15.5–18.5 dpc) the onset of villification in the developing small intestines. Due to the indistinguishable sex of the embryos and the absence of reported sex differences in villus morphogenesis, mice of both sexes were included in all experimental procedures. Therefore, random assignment of mice from either sex was conducted within each experimental group.

Tissue isolation and sectioning

Mouse embryonic small intestinal samples from different stages were carefully dissected and harvested from the body. All samples used for histological sectioning and subsequent staining were taken from duodenal sections. For paraffin section, samples were fixed overnight at 4° C temperature in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS buffer (Invitrogen) and incubated in 70% ethanol solution after three times’ wash with PBS buffer for paraffin section, and then were submitted to the Molecular Pathology and Imaging Core of the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Diseases (P30 DK050306) for further process, embed and sectioning for sectioning at tum thickness and then sectioned slices were kept at room temperature. For frozen section, samples were incubated overnight in 30% sucrose in PBS buffer after overnighted fixation at 4°C in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS buffer (Invitrogen) until the intestinal tissues completely sink to the tube bottom, and then were embed in OCT for quick- frozen and stored at -80°C. OCT-embedded samples were performed the cryo-sectioning though a using a cryostat (Cryostar NX50, ThermoFisher Scientific) at 10 µm, dried for 10 minutes at room temperature before the further immunofluorescent staining or stored at -80°C.

Scanning Electron Microscopy

The scanning electron microscope (SEM) experiments were conducted at the microscopy

core facility of the UPenn Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. After dissection, the presumptive duodenal sections of the 15.5 and 18.5 dpc fetuses were washed three times with 50 mM Na-cacodylate buffer and fixed overnight using a solution consisting of 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 50 mM Na-cacodylate buffer at a pH of 7.3. Subsequently, samples were dehydrated using a graded series of ethanol, gradually reaching 100% ethanol over a span of 1.5 hours. After dehydration, samples were incubated for 20 minutes in a solution containing 50% HMDS (Sigma-Aldrich) in ethanol, followed by three changes of 100% HMDS. After air-drying overnight, samples were mounted on stubs and coated with a layer of gold palladium using the sputter coating technique. Finally, we observed and photographed the specimens utilizing a Quanta 250 FEG scanning electron microscope manufactured by FEI (Hillsboro, OR, USA) with a 10 kV accelerating voltage.

Histology and Immunofluorescence

Paraffin sections were deparaffinized and rehydrated using xylene and descending ethanol gradients. For H&E staining, tissues were stained with Harris’ Hematoxylin and alcoholic Eosin Y. For IF staining, paraffin sections were subjected to antigen retrieval. For the frozen slices, OCT was directly removed in sterile water. Then the slices were performed the incubation with primary antibodies overnight at 4°C after serum blocking for 1 hour at room temperature and then with appropriate secondary antibodies at room temperature in the dark for 1 hour.

The following antibodies were used: goat anti-PDGFR alpha 1: 200 (R&D Systems, AF1062), mouse anti-EZRIN 1:1000 (Sigma-Aldrich, E8897), rat anti-E-Cadherin antibody [DECMA-1] 1: 200 (Abcam, ab11512), goat anti-E-cadherin 1: 200 (R&D systems, AF-648), rabbit anti-Sox9 1: 200 (Abcam, ab185966), rabbit anti-Ki67 1: 200 (Abcam, ab16667), RFP antibody 1: 500 (Rockland, 600-401-379), Anterior gradient protein homolog 2 1: 200 (Abcam, ab209224), Muc2 1: 200 (Abcam, ab272692), Phospho-Smad1/5 1: 50 (Cell Signaling Technology, 9516), Alexa Fluor 488 Phalloidin 1: 400 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, A12379), Sal-like protein 1 1: 200 (Abcam, ab41974), Cleaved Caspase-3 1: 200 (Cell Signaling Technology), and Alexa Fluor 488-, 594- and 647-conjugated secondary antibodies, obtained from Life Technologies. Subsequently, slides were stained with DAPI (Sigma-Aldrich, D9542) to label nuclei. For F-actin staining, tissues were frozen-sectioned, treated with PBS followed by PBST (1:1000 Triton X-100 in PBS), followed by 1 hour of staining with Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated Phalloidin diluted 1:1000 into the blocking buffer at room temperature. Slides were imaged using a Leica Stellaris 5 confocal microscope.

Single-cell capturing and cDNA library construction

Timed embryos were obtained by crossing homozygous male mice with heterozygous female mice. The small intestine was obtained through dissection, and half of the portion close to the stomach was collected after folding it in half. Additionally, the tail of each embryo was collected for genomic DNA extraction using the KAPA Mouse Genotyping Kit HotStart (Kapa Biosystems, KK7352). Subsequently, genotyping was performed to distinguish between heterozygotes and homozygotes.

Isolated intestinal cells were digested with collagenase type II and DNase I to prepare the single-cell suspension and then sorted in phosphate-buffered saline with 0.05% BSA to enrich the living cells through FACS sorting (MoFlo Astrios Sorter). Then the cells obtained were measured for cell concentration and viability with Trypan blue using a Countess II Automated Cell Counter from Life Technologies. Then the single-cell suspension was diluted to appropriate concentration and loaded on a 10x Genomics Chromium Single Cell Controller (Pleasanton, CA) with a target of about 5,000 cells per sample. Single-cell library preparation was completed using the 10x Genomics Chromium Single Cell 3’ Library & Gel Bead Kit v2 strictly following manufacturer’s protocol. The quality and quantity testing of obtained short cDNA fragment libraries using an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer and Invitrogen Qubit Fluorometer. Finally, the single-cell cDNA Libraries were sequenced on an Illumina Novaseq 6000 instrument.

Cut & Run and DNA product sequencing

Timed embryos were obtained by crossing homozygous or heterozygous male mice with C57BL/6 female mice. The entire length of the small intestine was digested with collagenase type II and DNase I to reach the single-cell state. Subsequently, the cells were sorted in phosphate-buffered saline with 0.05% BSA to enrich the tdTomato-positive cells using FACS (MoFlo Astrios Sorter).

Isolated tdTomato-positive telocytes from the embryonic small intestines at 15.5 dpc were subjected to CUT&RUN experiments. CUT&RUN experiments were performed using the CUT&RUN Assay Kit (EpiCypher, Catalog No. 14-1048) following the manufacturer’s

Instructions using 40,000 telocyte progenitors. Anti-Foxl1, H3K4me3 positive control and rabbit IgG negative control antibodies (13-0042k) were used in these experiments. Purified CUT&RUN DNA products were subjected to the CUT&RUN Library Prep Kit (EpiCypher, Catalog No. 14-1002) for library construction, and the libraries sequenced on an Illumina Hiseq X Ten instrument.

Single-molecule RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization

Proximal small intestinal sections from the Foxl1 null mice and controls from the same litter were fixed and gradient dehydrated following the methods described above. To perform the single-molecule RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (smFISH) we employed the RNAScope Multiplex Fluorescent Reagent Kit v2 (323270) from Advanced Cell Diagnostics following the manufacturer’s recommendations. smFISH imaging was performed using a confocal Leica Stellaris 5 microscope. The following RNAscope probes were obtained from Advanced Cell Diagnostics: Foxl1(C3), and Glp2r (C1).

Competing Interest Statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Kaestner lab for helpful discussions and Mark Tigue for maintaining our mouse colony. This work was supported by NIH grants R37DK053839 and R01DK139049. We thank the UPenn Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Diseases (P30 DK050306) for the use of the Molecular Pathology and Imaging Core (MPIC) for tissue processing, the UPenn Diabetes Research Center Functional Genomics Core (P30 DK019125) for help with data analysis, and the Cell & Developmental Biology Microscopy Core for the use of their confocal imaging services.

Author Contributions: GZ and KHK – Conceptualization and writing. GZ, HDM, and DL – Methodology. GZ and JS - Data curation and visualization. KHK - Supervision. KHK – Funding acquisition.

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supplementoryfig1.png
Figure S1: Single nuclei RNA-sequencing of adult mouse colon. A brief description of sample processing and data analysis. Colon tissue from two control mice was used to generate marker genes of the cell types indicated.

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Villification of the intestinal epithelium is driven by Foxl1

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Abstract

Figures

Introduction

Results

Fetal gut telocytes progenitors exist in two subpopulations

Expression of PDGFRa in telocyte progenitors is dependent on Foxl1

Foxl1 controls multiple Bmp genes in telocyte progenitor cells

Foxl1 is required for mesenchymal expression of planar cell polarity genes

Loss of Foxl1 impacts epithelial gene expression profiles

Discussion

Materials and Methods

Mice

Tissue isolation and sectioning

Scanning Electron Microscopy

Histology and Immunofluorescence

Single-cell capturing and cDNA library construction

Cut & Run and DNA product sequencing

Single-molecule RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization

Declarations

References

Supplementary Table

Additional Declarations

Supplementary Files

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