RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Three-dimensional cell neighbourhood impacts differentiation in the inner mass cells of the mouse blastocyst
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 159301
DO 10.1101/159301
A1 Sabine C. Fischer
A1 Elena Corujo-Simón
A1 Joaquín Lilao-Garzón
A1 Ernst H. K. Stelzer
A1 Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/07/04/159301.abstract
AB During mammalian blastocyst development, inner cell mass (ICM) cells differentiate into epiblast (Epi) or primitive endoderm (PrE). These two fates are characterised by the transcription factors NANOG and GATA6, respectively. Here, we present quantitative three-dimensional single cell-based neighbourhood analyses to investigate the spatial distribution of NANOG and GATA6 expression in the ICM of the mouse blastocyst. The cell neighbourhood is characterised by the expression levels of the fate markers in the surrounding cells, together with the number of surrounding cells and cell position. We find that cell neighbourhoods are established in early blastocysts and different for cells expressing different levels of NANOG and GATA6. Highest NANOG expressing cells occupy specific positions within the ICM and are surrounded by 9 neighbours, while GATA6 expressing cells cluster according to their GATA6 levels. The analysis of mutants reveals that NANOG local neighbourhood is regulated by GATA6.Summary statement Three-dimensional cell neighbourhood, which includes fate marker levels, number of neighbouring cells and cell position, determines cell fate decision in early mouse embryos.