Presentation Details
| Don Tucker Finalist: Investigating establishment of SOX9+ taste progenitors in the circumvallate papilla Amanda Stenzel1, 2, 3, Trevor Isner1, 2, 3, Tricia Lee4, Linda Barlow1, 2, 3. 1Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.2Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development Graduate Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.3Rocky Mountain Taste & Smell Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.4Developing Scholars Program, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA |
Abstract
Gustation is mediated by taste buds housed in specialized papillae on the tongue. The murine circumvallate papilla (CVP) at the posterior lingual midline contains hundreds of taste buds and forms a continuous epithelium with von Ebner’s minor salivary glands (VEG). Each bud contains short-lived taste bud cells (TBCs) that detect taste stimuli and are continuously renewed by progenitors outside buds. We have identified SOX9+ cells in the CVP/VEG junctional epithelium as a novel, long-term taste progenitor population in adult mice; however, when and how this population is established remains unexplored. CVP development begins at embryonic day (E)12.5 with formation of a Shh+ placode. Via HCR, we find limited Sox9 expression in the Shh+ placode. However, by E14.5 Sox9 is distinct from dorsal Shh+ expression and robustly expressed in ventral invaginating trenches. Lineage trace of embryonic SOX9+ cells initiated at E14.5 reveals SOX9+ cells contribute to junctional epithelium but not to initial taste buds at E17.5. Conversely, Shh+ cells lineage-labeled at E14.5 generate initial taste buds but not junctional epithelium. We are now assessing if embryonic Sox9+ cells function as taste stem cells postnatally. Further, we are testing the functional role of Shh signaling in development of SOX9+ cells and junction formation as Ptch1 and Sox9 expression overlap during trench invagination. Preliminarily, conditional genetic deletion of Shh signaling prior to CVP trench formation blocks CVP morphogenesis and junction formation. Our early findings suggest a model where Shh signaling is necessary for adult SOX9+ taste progenitor establishment in the CVP junctional epithelium. Support: T32GM141742, F31DC023482 to AS, and R01 DC021865 and DC018489 to LAB
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