Single-cell RNA Sequencing Unveils the Hidden Powers of Zebrafish Kidney for Generating Both Hematopoiesis and Adaptive Antiviral Immunity

Overview

Journal Elife

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Mar 18

PMID 38497789

Authors

Chongbin Hu

Nan Zhang

Yun Hong

Ruxiu Tie

Dongdong Fan

Aifu Lin

Ye Chen

Li-Xin Xiang

Jian-Zhong Shao

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The vertebrate kidneys play two evolutionary conserved roles in waste excretion and osmoregulation. Besides, the kidney of fish is considered as a functional ortholog of mammalian bone marrow that serves as a hematopoietic hub for generating blood cell lineages and immunological responses. However, knowledge about the properties of kidney hematopoietic cells, and the functionality of the kidney in fish immune systems remains to be elucidated. To this end, our present study generated a comprehensive atlas with 59 hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) and immune-cells types from zebrafish kidneys via single-cell transcriptome profiling analysis. These populations included almost all known cells associated with innate and adaptive immunity, and displayed differential responses to viral infection, indicating their diverse functional roles in antiviral immunity. Remarkably, HSPCs were found to have extensive reactivities to viral infection, and the trained immunity can be effectively induced in certain HSPCs. In addition, the antigen-stimulated adaptive immunity can be fully generated in the kidney, suggesting the kidney acts as a secondary lymphoid organ. These results indicated that the fish kidney is a dual-functional entity with functionalities of both primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Our findings illustrated the unique features of fish immune systems, and highlighted the multifaced biology of kidneys in ancient vertebrates.

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