Establishment and characterization of turtle liver organoids provides a potential model to decode their unique adaptations

Christopher Zdyrski; Vojtech Gabriel; Thea B Gessler; Abigail Ralston; Itzel Sifuentes-Romero; Debosmita Kundu; Sydney Honold; Hannah Wickham; Nicholas E Topping; Dipak Kumar Sahoo; Basanta Bista; Jeffrey Tamplin; Oscar Ospina; Pablo Piñeyro; Marco Arriaga; Jacob A Galan; David K Meyerholz; Karin Allenspach; Jonathan P Mochel; Nicole Valenzuela

doi:10.1038/s42003-024-05818-1

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Establishment and characterization of turtle liver organoids provides a potential model to decode their unique adaptations

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Establishment and characterization of turtle liver organoids provides a potential model to decode their unique adaptations

Christopher Zdyrski, Vojtech Gabriel, Thea B Gessler, Abigail Ralston, Itzel Sifuentes-Romero, Debosmita Kundu, Sydney Honold, Hannah Wickham, Nicholas E Topping, Dipak Kumar Sahoo, …

Communications biology, Vol.7(1), 218

02/22/2024

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05818-1

PMCID: PMC10883927

PMID: 38388772

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Abstract

Painted turtles are remarkable for their freeze tolerance and supercooling ability along with their associated resilience to hypoxia/anoxia and oxidative stress, rendering them an ideal biomedical model for hypoxia-induced injuries (including strokes), tissue cooling during surgeries, and organ cryopreservation. Yet, such research is hindered by their seasonal reproduction and slow maturation. Here we developed and characterized adult stem cell-derived turtle liver organoids (3D self-assembled in vitro structures) from painted, snapping, and spiny softshell turtles spanning ~175My of evolution, with a subset cryopreserved. This development is, to the best of our knowledge, a first for this vertebrate Order, and complements the only other non-avian reptile organoids from snake venom glands. Preliminary characterization, including morphological, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses, revealed organoids enriched in cholangiocytes. Deriving organoids from distant turtles and life stages demonstrates that our techniques are broadly applicable to chelonians, permitting the development of functional genomic tools currently lacking in herpetological research. Such platform could potentially support studies including genome-to-phenome mapping, gene function, genome architecture, and adaptive responses to climate change, with implications for ecological, evolutionary, and biomedical research.

Details

Title: Subtitle: Establishment and characterization of turtle liver organoids provides a potential model to decode their unique adaptations
Creators: Christopher Zdyrski - Iowa State University
Vojtech Gabriel - Iowa State University
Thea B Gessler - Iowa State University
Abigail Ralston - 3D Health Solutions Inc., Ames, IA, USA
Itzel Sifuentes-Romero - Iowa State University
Debosmita Kundu - Iowa State University
Sydney Honold - Iowa State University
Hannah Wickham - Iowa State University
Nicholas E Topping - Iowa State University
Dipak Kumar Sahoo - Iowa State University
Basanta Bista - Iowa State University
Jeffrey Tamplin - University of Northern Iowa
Oscar Ospina - Moffitt Cancer Center
Pablo Piñeyro - Iowa State University
Marco Arriaga - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Jacob A Galan - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
David K Meyerholz - University of Iowa
Karin Allenspach - Iowa State University
Jonathan P Mochel - University of Georgia
Nicole Valenzuela - Iowa State University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Communications biology, Vol.7(1), 218
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05818-1
PMID: 38388772
PMCID: PMC10883927
NLM abbreviation: Commun Biol
eISSN: 2399-3642
Language: English
Date published: 02/22/2024
Academic Unit: Pathology
Record Identifier: 9984560422102771

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