Luke Pase

mpeg1 promoter transgenes direct macrophage-lineage expression in zebrafish

Macrophages and neutrophils play important roles during the innate immune response, phagocytosing invading microbes and delivering antimicrobial compounds to the site of injury. Functional analyses of the cellular innate immune response in zebrafish infection/inflammation models have been aided by transgenic lines with fluorophore-marked neutrophils. However, it has not been possible to study macrophage behaviors and neutrophil/macrophage interactions in vivo directly because there has been no macrophage-only reporter line. To remove this roadblock, a macrophage-specific marker was identified (mpeg1) and its promoter used in mpeg1-driven transgenes. mpeg1-driven transgenes are expressed in macrophage-lineage cells that do not express neutrophil-marking transgenes. Using these lines, the different dynamic behaviors of neutrophils and macrophages after wounding were compared side-by-side in compound transgenics. Macrophage/neutrophil interactions, such as phagocytosis of senescent neutrophils, were readily observed in real time. These zebrafish transgenes provide a new resource that will contribute to the fields of inflammation, infection, and leukocyte biology.

HyPer-3: A Genetically Encoded H 2 O 2 Probe with Improved Performance for Ratiometric and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging

High-performance sensors for reactive oxygen species are instrumental to monitor dynamic events in cells and organisms. Here, we present HyPer-3, a genetically encoded fluorescent indicator for intracellular H2O2 exhibiting improved performance with respect to response time and speed. HyPer-3 has an expanded dynamic range compared to HyPer and significantly faster oxidation/reduction dynamics compared to HyPer-2. We demonstrate this performance by in vivo imaging of tissue-scale H2O2 gradients in zebrafish larvae. Moreover, HyPer-3 was successfully employed for single-wavelength fluorescent lifetime imaging of H2O2 levels both in vitro and in vivo.

Copper stimulates trafficking of a distinct pool of the Menkes copper ATPase (ATP7A) to the plasma membrane and diverts it into a rapid recycling pool.

MNK (Menkes copper-translocating P-type ATPase, or the Menkes protein; ATP7A) plays a key role in regulating copper homoeostasis in humans. MNK has been shown to have a dual role in the cell: it delivers copper to cuproenzymes in the Golgi compartment and effluxes excess copper from the cell. These roles can be achieved through copper-regulated trafficking of MNK. It has previously been shown to undergo trafficking from the trans -Golgi network to the plasma membrane in response to elevated copper concentrations, and to be endocytosed from the plasma membrane to the trans -Golgi network upon the removal of elevated copper. However, the fundamental question as to whether copper influences trafficking of MNK to or from the plasma membrane remained unanswered. In this study we utilized various methods of cell-surface biotinylation to attempt to resolve this issue. These studies suggest that copper induces trafficking of MNK to the plasma membrane but does not affect its rate of internalization from the plasma membrane. We also found that only a specific pool of MNK can traffic to the plasma membrane in response to elevated copper. Significantly, copper appeared to divert MNK into a fast-recycling pool and prevented it from recycling to the Golgi compartment, thus maintaining a high level of MNK in the proximity of the plasma membrane. These findings shed new light on the cell biology of MNK and the mechanism of copper homoeostasis in general.

Neutrophil-Delivered Myeloperoxidase Dampens the Hydrogen Peroxide Burst after Tissue Wounding in Zebrafish

Prompt neutrophil arrival is critical for host defense immediately after injury [1-3]. Following wounding, a hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) burst generated in injured tissues is the earliest known leukocyte chemoattractant [4]. Generating this tissue-scale H(2)O(2) gradient uses dual oxidase [4] and neutrophils sense H(2)O(2) by a mechanism involving the LYN Src-family kinase [5], but the molecular mechanisms responsible for H(2)O(2) clearance are unknown [6]. Neutrophils carry abundant amounts of myeloperoxidase, an enzyme catalyzing an H(2)O(2)-consuming reaction [7, 8]. We hypothesized that this neutrophil-delivered myeloperoxidase downregulates the high tissue H(2)O(2) concentrations that follow wounding. This was tested in zebrafish using simultaneous fluorophore-based imaging of H(2)O(2) concentrations and leukocytes [4, 9-11] and a new neutrophil-replete but myeloperoxidase-deficient mutant (durif). Leukocyte-depleted zebrafish had an abnormally sustained wound H(2)O(2) burst, indicating that leukocytes themselves were required for H(2)O(2) downregulation. Myeloperoxidase-deficient zebrafish also had abnormally sustained high wound H(2)O(2) concentrations despite similar numbers of arriving neutrophils. A local H(2)O(2)/myeloperoxidase interaction within wound-recruited neutrophils was demonstrated. These data demonstrate that leukocyte-delivered myeloperoxidase cell-autonomously downregulates tissue-generated wound H(2)O(2) gradients in vivo, defining a new requirement for myeloperoxidase during inflammation. Durif provides a new animal model of myeloperoxidase deficiency closely phenocopying the prevalent human disorder [7, 12, 13], offering unique possibilities for investigating its clinical consequences.

Hydrogen peroxide in inflammation: messenger, guide, and assassin.

Starting as a model for developmental genetics, embryology, and organogenesis, the zebrafish has become increasingly popular as a model organism for numerous areas of biology and biomedicine over the last decades. Within haematology, this includes studies on blood cell development and function and the intricate regulatory mechanisms within vertebrate immunity. Here, we review recent studies on the immediate mechanisms mounting an inflammatory response by in vivo analyses using the zebrafish. These recently revealed novel roles of the reactive oxygen species hydrogen peroxide that have changed our view on the initiation of a granulocytic inflammatory response.

PhagoSight: An Open-Source MATLAB® Package for the Analysis of Fluorescent Neutrophil and Macrophage Migration in a Zebrafish Model

Neutrophil migration in zebrafish larvae is increasingly used as a model to study the response of these leukocytes to different determinants of the cellular inflammatory response. However, it remains challenging to extract comprehensive information describing the behaviour of neutrophils from the multi-dimensional data sets acquired with widefield or confocal microscopes. Here, we describe PhagoSight, an open-source software package for the segmentation, tracking and visualisation of migrating phagocytes in three dimensions. The algorithms in PhagoSight extract a large number of measurements that summarise the behaviour of neutrophils, but that could potentially be applied to any moving fluorescent cells. To derive a useful panel of variables quantifying aspects of neutrophil migratory behaviour, and to demonstrate the utility of PhagoSight, we evaluated changes in the volume of migrating neutrophils. Cell volume increased as neutrophils migrated towards the wound region of injured zebrafish. PhagoSight is openly available as MATLAB® m-files under the GNU General Public License. Synthetic data sets and a comprehensive user manual are available from http://www.phagosight.org.

Midbrain-hindbrain boundary patterning and morphogenesis are regulated by diverse grainy head-like 2-dependent pathways.

The isthmic organiser located at the midbrain-hindbrain boundary (MHB) is the crucial developmental signalling centre responsible for patterning mesencephalic and metencephalic regions of the vertebrate brain. Formation and maintenance of the MHB is characterised by a hierarchical program of gene expression initiated by fibroblast growth factor 8 (Fgf8), coupled with cellular morphogenesis, culminating in the formation of the tectal-isthmo-cerebellar structures. Here, we show in zebrafish that one orthologue of the transcription factor grainy head-like 2 (Grhl2), zebrafish grhl2b plays a central role in both MHB maintenance and folding by regulating two distinct, non-linear pathways. Loss of grhl2b expression induces neural apoptosis and extinction of MHB markers, which are rescued by re-expression of engrailed 2a (eng2a), an evolutionarily conserved target of the Grhl family. Co-injection of sub-phenotypic doses of grhl2b and eng2a morpholinos reproduces the apoptosis and MHB marker loss, but fails to substantially disrupt formation of the isthmic constriction. By contrast, a novel direct grhl2b target, spec1, identified by phylogenetic analysis and confirmed by ChIP, functionally cooperates with grhl2b to induce MHB morphogenesis, but plays no role in apoptosis or maintenance of MHB markers. Collectively, these data show that MHB maintenance and morphogenesis are dissociable events regulated by grhl2b through diverse transcriptional targets.

Cell Type Specific Transcriptional Profiles of the Dimorphic Pathogen Penicillium marneffei Reflect Distinct Reproductive, Morphological and Environmental Demands

Penicillium marneffei is an opportunistic human pathogen endemic to Southeast Asia. At 25° P. marneffei grows in a filamentous hyphal form and can undergo asexual development (conidiation) to produce spores (conidia), the infectious agent. At 37° P. marneffei grows in the pathogenic yeast cell form that replicates by fission. Switching between these growth forms, known as dimorphic switching, is dependent on temperature. To understand the process of dimorphic switching and the physiological capacity of the different cell types, two microarray-based profiling experiments covering approximately 42% of the genome were performed. The first experiment compared cells from the hyphal, yeast, and conidiation phases to identify “phase or cell-state–specific” gene expression. The second experiment examined gene expression during the dimorphic switch from one morphological state to another. The data identified a variety of differentially expressed genes that have been organized into metabolic clusters based on predicted function and expression patterns. In particular, C-14 sterol reductase–encoding gene ergM of the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway showed high-level expression throughout yeast morphogenesis compared to hyphal. Deletion of ergM resulted in severe growth defects with increased sensitivity to azole-type antifungal agents but not amphotericin B. The data defined gene classes based on spatio-temporal expression such as those expressed early in the dimorphic switch but not in the terminal cell types and those expressed late. Such classifications have been helpful in linking a given gene of interest to its expression pattern throughout the P. marneffei dimorphic life cycle and its likely role in pathogenicity.

In vivo real-time visualization of leukocytes and intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels during a zebrafish acute inflammation assay.

Following injury, the inflammatory response directs the host immune cells to the wound to maintain tissue integrity and combat pathogens. The recruitment of immune cells to inflammatory sites is achieved through the establishment of a variety of signal gradients. Using a zebrafish embryo injury model, it was recently demonstrated that, upon injury, cells at the wound margin rapidly produce hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) which serves as an early paracrine signal to leukocytes. This chapter provides a method for performing in vivo time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to visualize leukocyte behaviors and wound-produced H(2)O(2) simultaneously in single zebrafish embryos during an acute inflammatory response. Protocols are included for inducing a robust, reproducible acute inflammatory response, for rapidly mounting immobilized embryos for time-lapse imaging, and for computing ratiometric data from the images of embryos expressing the genetically encoded H(2)O(2) sensor fluorophore HyPer. General issues to consider when designing multichannel fluorescent imaging are discussed, including particular considerations to note when monitoring intracellular H(2)O(2) concentration dynamics using HyPer.

A chemical screening approach to identify novel key mediators of erythroid enucleation

Erythroid enucleation is critical for terminal differentiation of red blood cells, and involves extrusion of the nucleus by orthochromatic erythroblasts to produce reticulocytes. Due to the difficulty of synchronizing erythroblasts, the molecular mechanisms underlying the enucleation process remain poorly understood. To elucidate the cellular program governing enucleation, we utilized a novel chemical screening approach whereby orthochromatic cells primed for enucleation were enriched ex vivo and subjected to a functional drug screen using a 324 compound library consisting of structurally diverse, medicinally active and cell permeable drugs. Using this approach, we have confirmed the role of HDACs, proteasomal regulators and MAPK in erythroid enucleation and introduce a new role for Cyclin-dependent kinases, in particular CDK9, in this process. Importantly, we demonstrate that when coupled with imaging analysis, this approach provides a powerful means to identify and characterize rate limiting steps involved in the erythroid enucleation process.