Title:
Genetic lineage tracing, a powerful tool to investigate the embryonic organogenesis and adult organ maintenance of the pancreas

Yoshiya Kawaguchi M.D., Ph.D.
Lecturer
Department of Surgery, Hepato-Biliary -Pancreatic Surgery and Transplantation
Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine

Abstract:
Revealing the mechanism of adult organ maintenance and regeneration after injury is fundamental to our understanding the pathogenesis of the diseases. Considering the results of Pulse & Chase experiments using inducible insulin-Cre or Elastase-Cre, and more recently Hnf1b-Cre, adult pancreatic cells (beta, acinar and duct cells) seem to be maintained by self-duplication of the existing cells, while there is still a dispute about whether adult beta-cells are supplied from the duct cells. In this lecture, I demonstrate the advantage and pitfall of Cre-mediated genetic lineage tracing experiments in the analysis of embryonic organogenesis and adult organ maintenance of the pancreas. This experimental technique enables to visualize the specific cells and their progenyin vivo , combination of lineage tracing and other experimental procedures provide us more detailed information on the mechanism of organogenesis and adult organ homeostasis.

References:
1. Kawaguchi , Y. et al. The role of the transcriptional regulator Ptf1a in converting intestinal to pancreatic progenitors. Nat Genet 32 , 128-134 (2002).

2. Fukuda, A. et al. Ectopic pancreas formation in Hes1 -knockout mice reveals plasticity of endodermal progenitors of the gut, bile duct, and pancreas. J Clin Invest 116 , 1484-1493 (2006).

3. Fukuda, A. et al. Reduction of Ptf1a gene dosage causes pancreatic hypoplasia and diabetes in mice. Diabetes 57 , 2421-2431 (2008).

4. Kawaguchi , Y. et al. Genetic lineage tracing, a powerful tool to investigate the embryonic organogenesis and adult organ maintenance of the pancreas. J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Sci. 2010.