为了跟踪体内的细胞-细胞接触，研究人员开发了一种细胞间遗传技术，用于监测细胞-细胞接触，并通过永久标记细胞间的接触来追踪细胞接触的历史。在小鼠中，研究人员将一个人工Notch配体植入一个细胞（发送细胞），将一个人工受体植入另一个细胞（接收细胞）。发送者和接受者细胞之间的接触触发了合成的Notch信号，激活了接受者细胞的下游转录程序，从而暂时或永久地标记了它。在发育、组织稳态和肿瘤生长过程中观察到体内细胞-细胞接触。这项技术可能有助于研究动态的体内细胞-细胞接触和细胞命运可塑性。
据悉，监测多细胞生物体中的细胞-细胞交流是了解各种生物过程的基础，如胚胎发生和肿瘤发生。
附：英文原文
Title: Monitoring of cell-cell communication and contact history in mammals
Author: Shaohua Zhang, Huan Zhao, Zixin Liu, Kuo Liu, Huan Zhu, Wenjuan Pu, Lingjuan He, Rong A. Wang, Bin Zhou
Issue&Volume: 2022-12-02
Abstract: Monitoring of cell-cell communication in multicellular organisms is fundamental to understanding diverse biological processes such as embryogenesis and tumorigenesis. To track cell-cell contacts in vivo, we developed an intercellular genetic technology to monitor cell-cell contact and to trace cell contact histories by permanently marking contacts between cells. In mice, we engineered an artificial Notch ligand into one cell (the sender cell) and an artificial receptor into another cell (the receiver cell). Contact between the sender and receiver cells triggered a synthetic Notch signaling that activated downstream transcriptional programs in the receiver cell, thereby transiently or permanently labeling it. In vivo cell-cell contact was observed during development, tissue homeostasis, and tumor growth. This technology may be useful for studying dynamic in vivo cell-cell contacts and cell fate plasticity.
DOI: abo5503
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo5503