Journal article

Global quantification of tissue dynamics in the developing mouse kidney

KM Short, AN Combes, J Lefevre, AL Ju, KM Georgas, T Lamberton, O Cairncross, BA Rumballe, AP McMahon, NA Hamilton, IM Smyth, MH Little

Developmental Cell | Published : 2014

Abstract

Although kidneys of equal size can vary 10-fold in nephron number at birth, discovering what regulates such variation has been hampered by a lack of quantitative parameters defining kidney development. Here we report a comprehensive, quantitative, multiscale analysis of mammalian kidney development in which we measure changes in cell number, compartment volumes, and cellular dynamics across the entirety of organogenesis, focusing on two key nephrogenic progenitor populations: the ureteric epithelium and the cap mesenchyme. In doing so, we describe a discontinuous developmental program governed by dynamic changes in interactions between these key cellular populations occurring within a previo..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (APP1002748), the Australian Research Council (DP10310086), and the Human Frontiers in Science Program (RGP0039/2011). Microscopy was performed at the ACRF/IMB Cancer Biology Imaging Facility, which was established with the support of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. I.M.S. holds a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council. M.H.L. is a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the NHMRC. We thank Nicholas Martel for assistance with mouse husbandry, Thierry Gilbert for advice on nephron number, and Alpha Yap and Peter Koopman for advice on the manuscript.