Cell lines are important tools commonly used in life science research; however, there is a paucity of commercially available zebrafish-derived cell lines. Only 5 strains worldwide, of which only 1 was obtained from the blastula stage (ZEM2S). The establishment of zebrafish cell lines will greatly expand their applications as model organisms and is particularly critical for the study of molecular mechanisms at the cellular level.
In a study published in Journal of Genetics and Genomics, the team led by Prof. LI Yiping from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have established twenty cell lines from single blastula stage embryos in zebrafish. The established cell lines can be cultured in vitro for a long period of time up to more than 45 generations and remain genomically stable, and single-cell sequencing data suggests an epithelioid cell-like cell lineage. This study not only enriches the fish cell line bank, but also provides in vitro research materials for studying epithelial cell homeostasis.
Currently available zebrafish cell lines are of poly-embryonic origin, lack homogeneity, and have a large number of chromosomes with aneuploidization in the cells due to the inability to maintain genomic stability over long periods of time of culture.
The study enabled single-embryo-derived cell lines to maintain genomic stability over time by adding BMP4 (bone morphogenetic protein 4, BMP4) to the cell culture medium. Comparison of single-cell transcript data with those of zebrafish embryos at different developmental stages revealed a similar expression pattern in SdiAB cells (one of single embryo-derived cell lines) and embryonic epithelial-like cells. Differential gene enrichment analysis revealed an overall acceleration of life activities in this cell line, as evidenced by the up-regulation of genes related to ribosomal metabolism, mitochondria-related genes, oxidative phosphorylation cycle-related pathways, and proteasomal signaling pathways.
In summary, this study established zebrafish epithelial-like cell lines capable of long-term passaging culture and maintaining genomic stability. It provides valuable research materials for studying biological processes such as epithelial cell differentiation and homeostasis. The cell lines established in this study not only provide an important cell biology research tool and expand the application of zebrafish as a model animal, but also provide a reference for the establishment of cell lines in other fish species.
Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1673852724001966
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