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A biomechanical switch regulates the transition towards homeostasis in oesophageal epithelium

Abstract

Epithelial cells rapidly adapt their behaviour in response to increasing tissue demands. However, the processes that finely control these cell decisions remain largely unknown. The postnatal period covering the transition between early tissue expansion and the establishment of adult homeostasis provides a convenient model with which to explore this question. Here, we demonstrate that the onset of homeostasis in the epithelium of the mouse oesophagus is guided by the progressive build-up of mechanical strain at the organ level. Single-cell RNA sequencing and whole-organ stretching experiments revealed that the mechanical stress experienced by the growing oesophagus triggers the emergence of a bright Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) committed basal population, which balances cell proliferation and marks the transition towards homeostasis in a yes-associated protein (YAP)-dependent manner. Our results point to a simple mechanism whereby mechanical changes experienced at the whole-tissue level are integrated with those sensed at the cellular level to control epithelial cell fate.

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Fig. 1: The postnatal mouse oesophagus as a model of rapid tissue expansion transitioning towards homeostasis.
Fig. 2: KLF4 marks the emergence of an early committed population in the oesophageal epithelium.
Fig. 3: Single-cell transcriptional profiling defines transition towards homeostasis.
Fig. 4: Homeostatic transition coincides with tissue spatial reorganization.
Fig. 5: Differential growth generates longitudinal tissue strain that is sensed at the cellular level.
Fig. 6: YAP nuclear localization promotes increased levels of basal commitment through KLF4.
Fig. 7: Changes in tissue mechanics influence basal KLF4 expression.

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Data availability

The scRNA-seq data that support the findings of this study have been deposited in the ArrayExpress repository under accession code E-MTAB-8662. Source data are provided with this paper. All other data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

Statistical analysis of the scRNA-seq data was performed using R codes developed for this study. Image segmentation and computational image analysis were performed using Python codes developed and/or adapted for this study. All codes for the computational analysis are available at https://github.com/BenSimonsLab/McGinn_Nat-Cell-Biol_2021.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Alcolea and Simons laboratories and B. Colom (Sanger Institute) for comments and suggestions; the staff of the University Biomedical Services, Gurdon Institute; P. Humphreys at the imaging core facilities at the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre; A. Sossick, R. Butler and N. Lawrence at the Gurdon Institute Imaging Facility; the CRUK Cambridge Institute Genomics Core Facility; J. Larsson (tetO-YAPS127A); I. J. Jackson (Fucci2a); the NIHR Cambridge BRC Cell Phenotyping Hub for FACS support; and the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre core facilities. We thank T. Savin, E. Hannezo, B. Ladoux, G. Charras, S. Hénon, N. Harmand, G. Duclos and J.-B. Lugagne for insight on deep-learning-based image analysis and/or tissue mechanics. This work was mainly supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society (105942/Z/14/Z to M.P.A.) and a core support grant from the Wellcome Trust (203151/Z/16/Z) and MRC (MC_PC_17230) to the Wellcome–MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. J.M. was supported by a CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre PhD fellowship. A.H. was supported by a Wellcome Trust Junior Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship (098357/Z/12/Z) and Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. This work also received support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF18CC0033666 to K.K. and NNF17OC0028730 and NNF17CC0027852 to K.B.J.), Human Frontier Science Program (LT000092/2016-L to S.H.), Basic Science Research Program (NRF-2014R1A6A3A01005675 to S.H.), National Institutes of Health (ZIA BC 011763 to R.I.-B.) and Wellcome PhD stutentship (220088/Z/20/Z to F.J.E.). C.V. was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (1506089). The Royal Society and European Research Council (CellFateTech; 772798) supported K.J.C. B.D.S. acknowledges funding from the Wellcome Trust (098357/Z/12/Z and 219478/Z/19/Z) and Royal Society in the form of an E. P. Abraham Research Professorship (RP\R1\180165). A.H., S.H. and B.D.S. acknowledge support from core funding to the Wellcome Trust/CRUK Gurdon Institute (203144/Z/16/Z and C6946/A24843).

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The experiments were designed, validated and conducted by J.M., F.J.E., R.I.-B. and M.P.A., with J.M. and F.J.E. working under the supervision of M.P.A. K.K. and S.U. carried out experiments under the supervision of K.B.J. A.H. developed the deep-learning-based image segmentation and other computational image analysis pipelines to quantify cell fluorescence levels, cell shape, tissue spatial organization and SHG images. S.H. guided the experimental design for scRNA-seq and performed analysis of the data. A.H. and S.H. were both under the supervision of B.D.S. C.V. designed and provided expertise on the 3D-printed stretcher device with input from K.J.C. A.H., R.I.-B. and K.J.C. provided insights and technical expertise on tissue mechanics and stretching experiments. K.B.J. and B.D.S. supervised parts of the study and provided expertise in the epithelial stem cell field. J.M. and M.P.A. conceived of and coordinated the project, supervised the experiments and wrote the manuscript with input from A.H. and B.D.S. All authors reviewed and edited the final manuscript. A.H., R.I.-B., K.J.C., K.B.J., B.D.S. and M.P.A. acquired the funding.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria P. Alcolea.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Cell Biology thanks John Connelly and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Postnatal characterization.

a, Diagram illustrating longitudinal oesophageal orientation from proximal to distal as marked by orange diamond. b, and c, Oesophageal tissue growth in length and width over time, respectively. Data expressed as mean ± SEM and analysed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (n = 103 mice; ####P < 0.0001 relative to P70; ****P < 0.0001 relative to P7). d, Images showing animal body growth throughout postnatal development. e, Representative images showing EdU+ basal cells 24 hours post-labelling in P14 and P49 from Fig. 1e-g. f, Graphical representation of differential basal cell production rate throughout postnatal development. See Methods; data expressed as mean ± SEM; n=3 mice. g, 3D rendered z-stacks showing split confocal channels from Fig. 1i. h, Typical 3D rendered confocal z-stacks showing tilted side views from Fig. 1i. Yellow arrows indicate immature epithelial barrier. i, Representative side views of confocal z-stacks showing the thickening of the oesophageal epithelium (OE). j, Representative H&E sections of the oesophagus showing increasing cornification, as delimited by dotted lines. k, Quantification of the cornified thickness. n=3 mice; Micrometer, µm. Data expressed as mean ± SEM and analysed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 relative to P7). Scale bars. S1d(2 cm); S1e,g-j(20 µm). Stainings. Blue, DAPI; cyan, EdU; green, KRT14; greyscale, KRT4. All data derived from wild-type C57BL/6J mice. Dashed lines indicate basement membrane. Dotted lines in graphs indicate P28. Orange diamonds depict longitudinal orientation of the oesophagus where indicated. Source data are provided.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 2 KLF4 basal cell prolife in FUCCI2a mice.

a, Representative confocal z-stacks showing side views of OE wholemounts from Fig. 2a. Dashed lines indicate basement membrane; dotted lines mark the upper limit of the OE; white arrows indicate basal KLF4+ cells. Red, KLF4. b, In vivo protocol. Oesophagi from FUCCI2a mice were collected at time points indicated. Schematic indicating expression pattern of fluorescent proteins in FUCCI2a mouse model. c, Confocal images showing basal views of typical FUCCI2a OE wholemounts in (b). Orange diamonds indicate longitudinal orientation of the oesophagus. White dashed lines indicate mVenus+ cells; green, mVenus; red, mCherry; greyscale, KLF4. d and e, Correlation between KLF4 protein expression and reporter fluorescent proteins mCherry (d)/mVenus (e) in the basal layer from (b) and (c). n=3 mice; Scale bars 20 µm. Parts of (b) were drawn by using and/or adapting diagrams from Servier Medical Art. Source data are provided.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Single-cell RNA sequencing annotation.

a, Flow cytometry gating strategy for isolation of OE cells. Oesophageal cell suspensions (i) were gated to sort the single (ii) viable (iii) population, enriched for epithelial cells (iv; EpCam+/CD45-). Cells were isolated from 15 mice (P7), 12 mice (P28), and 9 (adults). Representative plots from adult sample are shown. b, UMAP representing cell clusters based on louvain clustering. c, UMAP representing the distribution of cell clusters in (b) after integrating data from different time points (see Methods). d, UMAP showing expression of representative makers for basal (left panel) and differentiated cells (right panel) in OE. e, Heatmap showing expression of representative marker genes for basal cells, cell cycle, and differentiation for the 17 clusters shown in (b in lower bar). Expression values were log2-transformed normalized UMIs followed by scaling and averaging across cells in the same clusters. f, Violin plots showing expression of representative epithelial (basal vs. differentiated) and cell cycle markers at different postnatal stages split by annotated cell cohorts in Fig. 3c. g, Violin plots showing expression of genes associated with regeneration and homeostasis for basal and differentiated cell types at distinct postnatal stages. Basal cells include both cycling and resting cells. h, UMAP showing spatial distribution of distinct cell cycle phases, annotated using cell cycle analysis by R package scran (v 1.12.1) combined with manual curation based on genes in (e). i, Violin plots showing expression of representative cell cycle genes at postnatal stages split by cell cycle cohorts identified in (h). Colour scheme for cell cycle phases as in (h). j, In vivo protocol. Mice were treated with EdU 2 hours prior culling at indicated time points. k, Typical 3D rendered confocal side views showing basal EdU population (see Methods). Dashed white lines, basement membrane. Dotted white lines, upper OE limit. Blue, DAPI; cyan, EdU; scale bar 10 µm. For violin plots in (f), (g) and (i), expression level represents log2-transformed normalized UMIs, dotted lines indicate the median of the distribution. Colour bars of UMAPs in (d) denotes expression range. Parts of (j) were drawn by using and/or adapting diagrams from Servier Medical Art.

Extended Data Fig. 4 Single-cell RNA sequencing expression profile.

a, Distinctive patterns of gene expression in basal cells as defined in (Fig. 3c). Grey, relative expression profiles of individual genes belonging to each pattern. Solid coloured lines, median values at each time point. To calculate the relative expression profiles, log2-transformed normalized UMIs were scaled and averaged across all basal cells at each time point and adjusted compared to the value at P7. b, Heatmap representing expression of individual genes belonging to the 4 patterns in (a). For expression values, log2-transformed normalised UMIs were scaled and averaged across all basal cells for each cluster and time point. The table on the right shows selected GO terms for major Pattern 2 and Pattern 4, corresponding p-values and representative genes. Closely related GO terms are grouped together. See Supplementary Table 3 for GO analysis result for all 4 expression patterns. c and d, UMAPs showing expression of genes related to key biological processes from Gene Ontology analysis for Patterns 2 (c) and 4 (d) in (b). e, Violin plots showing expression of Klf4 in cells of individual clusters at P7 (left), P28 (middle) and Adult (right). f, Expression of relevant genes along the pseudotime trajectory from basal resting to differentiated cells for P7. Left panel, YAP target genes (Cyr61, Ctgf, Thbs1) and genes associated with a response to mechanical stimuli (Cav1, Klf2, Dcn). Right panel, depicts KLF4 target genes (Krt4, Krt13, Cdnk1a, Cebpb). For violin plots in (e), expression level means log2-transformed normalized UMIs and dotted lines indicate the median of the distribution. Colour bars of UMAPs in (c) and (d) indicate log2-transformed normalized UMIs. Gene expression in (f) is represented as auto-scaled, log2-transformed normalized UMIs smoothed using a rolling mean along its trajectory with a window size of 5% of cells. Two bars on the top denotes the arrangement of cells according to pseudotime and clusters in Extended Data Fig. 3b, respectively.

Extended Data Fig. 5 Deep Learning based segmentation.

a, Protocol for in situ fixation of the oesophagus, and b, Images from in situ oesophagi compared with oesophagi fixed immediately after dissection confirm that basal cell shape was not affected by tissue harvesting (Supplementary to Fig. 4a). Blue, DAPI; green, KRT14. Scale bar, 20 µm. c, Schematic depicting deep learning based segmentation principle. Manually or semi-automatically annotated ‘ground truth’ images were used to train a U-Net convolutional neural network. Training of the network was assessed on validation images and iteratively optimized until the achievement of satisfactory automated segmentation. d, Schematic of pipeline utilised for segmentation of single z-slice confocal images of OE basal layer. Nuclear segmentation was based on DAPI staining (blue). Mask overlay shows the match between the binary mask and the original fluorescence image. Scale bar, 20 µm. e, Schematic describing the computation of Voronoi diagrams of the tissue. Single z-slice confocal images of the OE basal layer are segmented as described in (d). Cell centroids are computed using the binary mask. Delaunay triangulation of cells was performed using cell centroid coordinates. Voronoi diagrams are calculated as the dual of Delaunay triangulation of cells in the tissue and overlaid onto the original fluorescence image. Scale bar, 20 µm. f, Cell shape anisotropy tensor at P14 and P49 (supplementary to Fig. 4d). n=3 mice. Orientation is colour-coded. Results from a representative experiment are shown; n=3 mice. g, Violin plots showing the distribution in cell shape anisotropy throughout postnatal development. n=2052–2594 cells from 3 animals per time point. Black dashed line, median. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (****P < 0.0001 relative to P7). h, Bidimensional structure factor at P14 and P49 (supplementary to Fig. 4e). Changes in the dashed white outline (from ellipse to circle) depict a transition from anisotropic to isotropic spatial distribution over time; n=3 mice. i, Structure factor shape anisotropy distribution as shown in (h) and Fig. 4e. Box plots show median and quartiles; and whiskers, minima/maxima. Individual measurements from n=3 mice; (ns, not significant; ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.0001 relative to P7). All data derived from wild-type C57BL/6J mice. Parts of (a) were drawn by using and/or adapting diagrams from Servier Medical Art. Source data are provided.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 6 Oesophageal tissue strain and second harmonic generation.

a, In situ and immediate ex vivo images of oesophageal tubes at P28 and P49 (supplementary to Fig. 5b). White dashed lines delineate oesophageal tube; scale bar 1 cm. b, Representative images showing the size of combined and separate oesophageal layers; full oesophageal tube (Tube), epithelial composite (Epi) and muscle layer (Muscle); scale bar 5 mm. c, Longitudinal tissue strain relative to muscle, represented as percentage. Data expressed as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (P7 n=16, P28 and Adult n=9; **P < 0.01 relative to P7; ns, not significant). d, Measure of the stomach perimeter over time. Mean values ± SEM; n=3 mice. Two-way ANOVA, with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (ns, not significant). Millimetre, mm. e, Basal confocal view of EdU+ cells (cyan) in wholemounts of typical squamous stomach epithelium from (f; Blue, DAPI). f, In vivo protocol. Mice were treated with a single EdU injection 24 h prior stomach collection at the time points indicated. g, Quantification of EdU+ basal cells per field from (f). Presented as mean ± SD; n = 3. h, Representative views of stroma underlying OE basement membrane using second harmonic generation (SHG). Left panels, collagen in magenta. Middle panels, colour map of SHG signal intensity. Right panels, colour-coded local orientation map of SHG signal. Scale bar 100 µm. i, Representative histograms depicting orientation distribution of collagen fibres in (h). n=3 mice. j, Basal view of representative OE wholemounts at P14. Green, YAP; greyscale, B-Catenin (BCat). Scale bar 10 µm. k and l, Quantification of basal nuclear and cytoplasmic staining of YAP and DAPI, respectively (see Methods; supplementary to Fig. 5m). A total of 20 cells for 3 different animals were measured. All data derived from wild-type C57BL/6J mice. g, k and l was performed using two-tailed unpaired t test (****P < 0.0001; ns, not significant). Box plots show median and quartiles; whiskers, 0.1 and 0.99 percentiles. Orange diamonds depict longitudinal orientation of the oesophagus where indicated. Parts of (f) were drawn by using and/or adapting diagrams from Servier Medical Art. Source data are provided.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 7 Changes in tissue mechanics at cellular level.

a, Model of parts required for 3D printed stretcher. Scale bar, 1 cm. b, In vitro protocol. Oesophagi were exposed to 40% stretch using stretcher (Fig. 7a) and treated with/without 25 µm blebbistatin (BLEBB) for 48 hours. c, Individual basal cell areas. Data analysis was performed using Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (n=3 mice; *P < 0.05, ****P < 0.0001; ns, not significant; black indicates significance between control vs. BLEBB conditions; grey indicates statistical differences between stretching conditions). d, Confocal basal views of typical organ cultures after 48 hour BLEBB treatment in vitro from (b). Blue represents DAPI, greyscale shows phalloidin staining. Scale bar, 20 µm. e, In vitro protocol. Oesophagi stretched at the indicated levels, treated with EdU for 1 hour, and kept in vitro as whole-organ cultures for a 24 hours. f, Confocal basal views showing EdU (cyan) and phosphohistone H3 (PhosphoH3 in magenta) staining in cultures from (e). Scale bar, 20 µm. g and h, Basal quantification of EdU+ and PhosphoH3+ cells expressed as percentage of DAPI+ cells from (e). Mean ± SD One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (n=3 mice; **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001 relative to Control; ns, not significant). i, In vivo protocol. Oesophageal wholemounts from Rosa26-mT/mG mice were mechanically peeled, separating cornified suprabasal layers or underlying stroma (see Methods). j, Individual area of basal cells. Data analysis was performed using One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (n=3 mice; ****P < 0.0001 relative to full tissue). k, Confocal basal views of typical OE wholemounts after mechanical separation. Red, mTmG; scale bar, 10 µm. l, Basal cell density, expressed in number of cells per field after BLEBB treatment in Fig. 7e. Mean ± SD; n=3 mice. Unpaired t test (ns, not significant). m, Basal quantification of EdU+ cells expressed as percentage of DAPI+ cells after BLEBB treatment in Fig. 7e. Mean ± SD; n=3 mice. Unpaired t test (ns, not significant). Data derived from wild-type C57BL/6J mice, unless otherwise stated. Individual points show individual measurements, greyscale indicates values from each of 3 mice. Parts of (b, e) were drawn by using and/or adapting diagrams from Servier Medical Art. Source data are provided.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Note 1

Reporting Summary

Peer Review Information

Supplementary Table 1

Quality control statistics for the scRNA-seq data. Basic statistics on the quality of the scRNA-seq data. The statistics were calculated after filtering out low-quality cells (see Methods for low-quality criteria).

Supplementary Table 2

Tab 1: Expression patterns in basal cells. Clustering of expression profiles of the DEGs between P7, P28 and adult stages for basal cells (see Extended Data Fig. 4a,b). For cluster membership, refer to Tab 2 (Expression pattern) and ExpressionPattern_BasalCell.R in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/BenSimonsLab/McGinn_Nat-Cell-Biol_2021/tree/main/scRNAseq/Source). Tab 2: Expression pattern. Four major patterns of DEGs for basal cells along time points. The heatmap shows four major expression patterns of DEGs at the P28 and adult stages compared with P7, as shown in Extended Data Fig. 4a,b. The relative expression values of 1,738 DEGs were clustered using k-means clustering (k = 10). The relative expression values of the DEGs in each k-means cluster were averaged to give the representative expression values displayed in the heatmap. The size numbers on the right indicates the number of genes belonging to each k-means cluster. The ten k-means clusters were again grouped into four major patterns. The colour bar represents the averaged z-transformed normalized UMI values.

Supplementary Table 3

Gene Ontology analysis of basal cell expression patterns. Expanded version of the table showing Gene Ontology analysis in Extended Data Fig. 4b. P values were determined based on a one-sided Fisher’s exact test in DAVID version 6.8 (https://david.ncifcrf.gov/).

Supplementary Table 4

Supplementary Table 4 Tab 1: Expression patterns of basal resting cells. Expression patterns of DEGs at the P7, P28 and adult stages for resting basal cells, related to Fig. 3f. Expression values of DEGs between representative clusters of resting basal cells at the P7, P28 and adult stages are shown. The expression values were calculated by averaging auto-scaled normalized UMIs in a cluster or group of clusters, as indicated. Clusters 1, 2, 6, 7 and 12 are defined in Extended Data Fig. 3. The 1,729 DEGs were clustered using k-means clustering (k = 6). The six k-means clusters were classified into three major expression patterns (see Tab 2 (K-means clustering) for k-means clusters and expression patterns). Also refer to ExpressionPattern_RestingBasalCell.R in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/BenSimonsLab/McGinn_Nat-Cell-Biol_2021/tree/main/scRNAseq/Source). Tab 2: K-means clustering. Heatmap showing the clustering of marker genes for resting basal cell clusters. Three major expression patterns of DEGs between representative clusters of resting basal cells at the P7, P28 and adult stages (Fig. 3f) are shown. The expression values of the DEGs in each k-means cluster were averaged to give the representative expression values displayed in the heatmap. The size numbers on the right indicate the number of genes belonging to each k-means cluster. The six k-means clusters were again grouped into three major patterns. The colour bar shows the averaged expression value in a k-means cluster. Tabs 3–5. Gene Ontology analysis results for expression patterns 1–3. These tabs show the results of Gene Ontology analysis (biological process terms) for 748 genes in expression pattern 1 (Tab 3), 163 genes in expression pattern 2 (Tab 4) and 818 genes in expression pattern 3 (Tab 5) using DAVID version 6.8 (https://david.ncifcrf.gov/). P values were determined based on a one-sided Fisher’s exact test. P values were adjusted using Bonferroni, Benjamini and FDR methods. Refer to DAVID (https://david.ncifcrf.gov/content.jsp?file=functional_annotation.html) for details relating to each column.

Supplementary Table 5

List of antibodies. Complete list of antibodies used.

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McGinn, J., Hallou, A., Han, S. et al. A biomechanical switch regulates the transition towards homeostasis in oesophageal epithelium. Nat Cell Biol 23, 511–525 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-021-00679-w

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