Somites are a source of nephron progenitors in zebrafish
For over a century it has been believed that the vertebrate kidney arises exclusively from the intermediate mesoderm. Here, we overturn this paradigm by demonstrating that some nephrons, the functional units of the kidney, originate from the somites- blocks of paraxial mesoderm best known for their contribution to muscle and connective tissues. Using a combination of the GESTALT technique to assign developmental ancestry, somite transplantation experiments and Cre-lox fate-mapping, we show that somites can contribute to the nephrons in the adult zebrafish kidney. Our findings uncover an unexpected developmental connection between the somites and kidneys, potentially offering new pathways for developing regenerative treatments for kidney diseases.
Authors
- Phong D. Nguyen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1889-3276)
- Hao-Han Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8023-6862)
- Peng Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7954-8869)
- Thitinee Vanichapol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6647-7608)
- Peter D. Currie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8874-8862)
- Katrinka M. Kocha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1053-3279)
- Zhenzhen Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0778-0578)
- Lori L. O’Brien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0741-181X)
- Alan J. Davidson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5732-1193)
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- Inserm (FR)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (AU)
- Alberta Children's Hospital (CA)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Génétique et biologie du développement (FR)
- Monash University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-07-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62259-y
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Renal and related cancers
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.22
Funders
- Harvard University
- Universität Basel
- Royal Society Te Apārangi
- University of Auckland
- National Institutes of Health
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Marsden Fund
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases