Fig. 10

Genetic chimeras reveal that Uhrf1 functions cell-non-autonomously and cell-autonomously in ENS development. (A) Transplantation experiment diagram. Wildtype or uhrf1 mutant donor embryos that carry the phox2b:EGFP transgene were injected with rhodamine dextran. Vagal neural crest cells were transplanted from donors into unlabeled wildtype or uhrf1 mutant hosts. The contribution of transplanted cells was evaluated at 5 dpf. (B) Possible results for transplantation experiments to test cell-non-autonomous function of uhrf1 in ENS development. (C) Possible results for transplantation experiments to test cell-autonomous function of uhrf1 in ENS development. (D) phox2b:EGFP positive (green) wildtype cells transplanted into wildtype hosts can populate the entire intestine. Note that the density of these cells is less than in non-transplanted animals because they share the territory with unlabeled ENS cells of the host. (E) phox2b:EGFP positive (green) wildtype cells transplanted into uhrf1 mutant hosts can expand, but are consistently excluded from distal intestine (outlined and labeled with asterisk). (F) phox2b:EGFP positive (green) uhrf1 mutant cells transplanted into wildtype hosts can migrate to distal intestine in rare cases (1/5), but the population of transplanted mutant cells that successfully integrate into the ENS is smaller than that of the wildtype host cells as revealed by Elavl staining (magenta). (D–F) Lateral views of whole-mount zebrafish larvae at 5 dpf. Scale bar = 100 μm in D-F.