| First Author | Moor AE | Year | 2018 |
| Journal | Cell | Volume | 175 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 1156-1167.e15 |
| PubMed ID | 30270040 | Mgi Jnum | J:267381 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6259196 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.063 |
| Citation | Moor AE, et al. (2018) Spatial Reconstruction of Single Enterocytes Uncovers Broad Zonation along the Intestinal Villus Axis. Cell 175(4):1156-1167.e15 |
| abstractText | The intestinal epithelium is a highly structured tissue composed of repeating crypt-villus units. Enterocytes perform the diverse tasks of absorbing a wide range of nutrients while protecting the body from the harsh bacterium-rich environment. It is unknown whether these tasks are spatially zonated along the villus axis. Here, we extracted a large panel of landmark genes characterized by transcriptomics of laser capture microdissected villus segments and utilized it for single-cell spatial reconstruction, uncovering broad zonation of enterocyte function along the villus. We found that enterocytes at villus bottoms express an anti-bacterial gene program in a microbiome-dependent manner. They next shift to sequential expression of carbohydrates, peptides, and fat absorption machineries in distinct villus compartments. Finally, they induce a Cd73 immune-modulatory program at the villus tips. Our approach can be used to uncover zonation patterns in other organs when prior knowledge of landmark genes is lacking. |
