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Hypoxia fate mapping identifies cycling cardiomyocytes in the adult heart
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Hypoxia fate mapping identifies cycling cardiomyocytes in the adult heart

Wataru Kimura, Feng Xiao, Diana C Canseco, Shalini Muralidhar, SuWannee Thet, Helen M Zhang, Yezan Abderrahman, Rui Chen, Joseph A Garcia, John M Shelton, …
Nature (London), v 523(7559), pp 226-230
09 Jul 2015
PMID: 26098368

Abstract

Animals Cell Hypoxia Cell Proliferation - genetics Female Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - genetics Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit - metabolism Male Mice Mice, Transgenic Myocardium - cytology Myocytes, Cardiac - cytology Myocytes, Cardiac - metabolism Protein Structure, Tertiary Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics Recombinant Fusion Proteins - metabolism Recombinases - genetics Recombinases - metabolism Signal Transduction Stem Cells - cytology Stem Cells - metabolism
Although the adult mammalian heart is incapable of meaningful functional recovery following substantial cardiomyocyte loss, it is now clear that modest cardiomyocyte turnover occurs in adult mouse and human hearts, mediated primarily by proliferation of pre-existing cardiomyocytes. However, fate mapping of these cycling cardiomyocytes has not been possible thus far owing to the lack of identifiable genetic markers. In several organs, stem or progenitor cells reside in relatively hypoxic microenvironments where the stabilization of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (Hif-1α) subunit is critical for their maintenance and function. Here we report fate mapping of hypoxic cells and their progenies by generating a transgenic mouse expressing a chimaeric protein in which the oxygen-dependent degradation (ODD) domain of Hif-1α is fused to the tamoxifen-inducible CreERT2 recombinase. In mice bearing the creERT2-ODD transgene driven by either the ubiquitous CAG promoter or the cardiomyocyte-specific α myosin heavy chain promoter, we identify a rare population of hypoxic cardiomyocytes that display characteristics of proliferative neonatal cardiomyocytes, such as smaller size, mononucleation and lower oxidative DNA damage. Notably, these hypoxic cardiomyocytes contributed widely to new cardiomyocyte formation in the adult heart. These results indicate that hypoxia signalling is an important hallmark of cycling cardiomyocytes, and suggest that hypoxia fate mapping can be a powerful tool for identifying cycling cells in adult mammals.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
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