PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Simon M. Hughes
AU  - Roberta C. Escaleira
AU  - Kees Wanders
AU  - Jana Koth
AU  - David G. Wilkinson
AU  - Qiling Xu
TI  - Clonal behaviour of myogenic precursor cells throughout the vertebrate lifespan
AID  - 10.1101/2022.02.17.480906
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2022.02.17.480906
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/18/2022.02.17.480906.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/02/18/2022.02.17.480906.full
AB  - To address questions of stem cell diversity during skeletal myogenesis, a Brainbow-like genetic cell lineage tracing method, dubbed Musclebow, was derived by enhancer trapping in zebrafish. It is shown that at least 15 muscle precursor cells (mpcs) seed each somite, where they proliferate but contribute little to muscle growth prior to hatching. Thereafter, dermomyotome-derived mpc clones rapidly expand while some progeny undergo terminal differentiation, leading to stochastic clonal drift. No evidence of cell lineage-based clonal fate diversity was obtained. Neither fibre nor mpc death was observed in uninjured animals. Individual marked muscle fibres persist across much of the lifespan indicating low rates of nuclear turnover. In adulthood, early-marked mpc clones label stable blocks of tissue comprising a significant fraction of either epaxial or hypaxial somite. Fusion of cells from separate early-marked clones occurs in regions of clone overlap. Wounds are regenerated from many/most local mpcs; no evidence for specialised stem mpcs was obtained. In conclusion, our data indicate that most mpcs in muscle tissue contribute to local growth and repair and suggest that cellular turnover is low in the absence of trauma.Summary Statement Musclebow clonal cell lineage analysis is introduced to reveal the cellular dynamics of skeletal muscle formation, repair and maintenance throughout the life of zebrafish.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.