Live imaging of individual cell divisions in mouse neuroepithelium shows asymmetry in cilium formation and Sonic hedgehog response

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Karolina Piotrowska-Nitsche, Emory University; Tamara Caspary, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-05-02
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 Piotrowska-Nitsche and Caspary; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
• Final Published Version (URL): http://www.ciliajournal.com/content/1/1/6
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Cilia
• ISSN: 2046-2530
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 6
• Start Page: 1
• End Page: 10
• Grant/Funding Information: This research project was supported by an ARRA Supplement, 5 R01 NS056380. Additional support was provided through the Viral Vector Core and the Microscopy Core of the Emory Neuroscience NINDS Core Facilities grant, P30NS055077.
• Research Categories: Biology, Genetics

Abstract

Background Primary cilia are microtubule-based sensory organelles that play important roles in developmental signaling pathways. Recent work demonstrated that, in cell culture, the daughter cell that inherits the older mother centriole generates a primary cilium and responds to external stimuli prior to its sister cell. This asynchrony in timing of cilia formation could be especially critical during development as cell divisions are required for both differentiation and maintenance of progenitor cell niches. Methods Here we integrate several fluorescent markers and use ex vivo live imaging of a single cell division within the mouse E8.5 neuroepithelium to reveal both the formation of a primary cilium and the transcriptional response to Sonic hedgehog in the daughter cells. Results We show that, upon cell division, cilia formation and the Sonic hedgehog response are asynchronous between the daughter cells. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that we can directly observe single cell divisions within the developing neuroepithelium and concomitantly monitor cilium formation or Sonic hedgehog response. We expect this method to be especially powerful in examining whether cellular behavior can lead to both differentiation and maintenance of cells in a progenitor niche.