Wei Gu, Xiaofeng Huang, Pratik N P Singh, Sanlan Li, Ying Lan, Min Deng, Lauretta A Lacko, Jesus M Gomez-Salinero, Shahin Rafii, Michael P Verzi, Ramesh A Shivdasani, Qiao Zhou
Plasticity among cell lineages is a fundamental, but poorly understood, property of regenerative tissues. In the gut tube, the small intestine absorbs nutrients, whereas the colon absorbs electrolytes. In a striking display of inherent plasticity, adult colonic mucosa lacking the chromatin factor SATB2 is converted to small intestine. Using proteomics and CRISPR-Cas9 screening, we identify MTA2 as a crucial component of the molecular machinery that, together with SATB2, restrains colonic plasticity. MTA2 loss in the adult mouse colon activated lipid absorptive genes and functional lipid uptake...
April 27, 2024: Nature Communications