Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a life-threatening disorder, commonly caused by defects in polycystin-1 (PC1) or polycystin-2 (PC2), in which tubular epithelia form fluid-filled cysts 1, 2. A major barrier to understanding PKD is the absence of human cellular models that accurately and efficiently recapitulate cystogenesis 3, 4. Previously, we have generated a genetic model of PKD using human pluripotent stem cells and derived kidney organoids 5, 6. Here we show that systematic substitution of physical components can dramatically increase or decrease cyst formation, unveiling a critical role for microenvironment in PKD. Removal of adherent cues increases cystogenesis 10-fold, producing cysts phenotypically resembling PKD that expand massively to 1-centimeter diameters. Removal of stroma enables outgrowth of PKD cell lines, which exhibit defects in PC1 expression and collagen compaction. Cyclic AMP, when added, induces cysts in both PKD organoids and controls. These biomaterials establish a highly efficient model of PKD cystogenesis that directly implicates the microenvironment at the earliest stages of the disease.

A critical event during kidney organogenesis is the differentiation of podocytes, specialized epithelial cells that filter blood plasma to form urine. Podocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC-podocytes) have recently been generated in nephron-like kidney organoids, but the developmental stage of these cells and their capacity to reveal disease mechanisms remains unclear. Here we show that hPSC-podocytes phenocopy mammalian podocytes at the capillary loop stage (CLS), recapitulating key features of ultrastructure, gene expression, and mutant phenotype. hPSC-podocytes in vitro progressively establish junction-rich basal membranes (nephrin+podocin+ZO-1+) and microvillus-rich apical membranes (podocalyxin+), similar to CLS podocytes in vivo. Ultrastructural, biophysical, and transcriptomic analysis of gene-edited hPSCs and derived podocytes, generated using CRISPR/Cas9, reveals that podocalyxin is essential for the assembly of microvilli and lateral spaces between developing podocytes. These defects are phenocopied in CLS glomeruli of podocalyxin-deficient mice, which cannot produce urine, thereby demonstrating that podocalyxin has a conserved and essential role in mammalian podocyte maturation. Defining the maturity of hPSC-podocytes and their capacity to reveal and recapitulate pathophysiological mechanisms establishes a powerful framework for studying human kidney disease and regeneration.

Many pancreatic transcription factors that are essential for islet cell differentiation have been well characterized; however, because they are often expressed in several different cell populations, their functional hierarchy remains unclear. To parse out the spatiotemporal regulation of islet cell differentiation, we used a Neurog3-Cre allele to ablate Nkx2.2, one of the earliest and most broadly expressed islet transcription factors, specifically in the Neurog3+ endocrine progenitor lineage (Nkx2.2△endo). Remarkably, many essential components of the β cell transcriptional network that were down-regulated in the Nkx2.2KO mice, were maintained in the Nkx2.2△endo mice - yet the Nkx2.2△endo mice displayed defective β cell differentiation and recapitulated the Nkx2.2KO phenotype. This suggests that Nkx2.2 is not only required in the early pancreatic progenitors, but has additional essential activities within the endocrine progenitor population. Consistently, we demonstrate Nkx2.2 functions as an integral component of a modular regulatory program to correctly specify pancreatic islet cell fates.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20010.001

KRAB domain Zinc finger proteins are one of the most abundant families of transcriptional regulators in higher vertebrates. The prevailing view is that KRAB domain proteins function as potent transcriptional repressors by recruiting TRIM28 and promoting heterochromatin spreading. However, the extent to which all KRAB domain proteins are TRIM28-dependent transcriptional repressors is currently unclear. Our studies on mouse ZFP568 revealed that TRIM28 recruitment by KRAB domain proteins is not sufficient to warrant transcriptional repressive activity. By using luciferase reporter assays and yeast two-hybrid experiments, we tested the ability of ZFP568 and other mouse KRAB domain proteins to repress transcription and bind TRIM28. We found that some mouse KRAB domain proteins are poor transcriptional repressors despite their ability to recruit TRIM28, while others showed strong KRAB-dependent transcriptional repression, but no TRIM28 binding. Together, our results show that the transcriptional repressive activity of KRAB-ZNF proteins does not correlate with their ability to recruit TRIM28, and provide evidence that KRAB domains can regulate transcription in a TRIM28-independent fashion. Our findings challenge the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms used by KRAB domain proteins to control gene expression and highlight that a high percentage of KRAB domain proteins in the mouse genome differ from the consensus KRAB sequence at amino acid residues that are critical for TRIM28 binding and/or repressive activity.

5-Methoxytryptophol (ML) is synthesized by the pineal gland, but no radioimmunoassay has been described for its routine measurement in human plasma. We have developed and validated such an RIA. The assay is sensitive (detecting as little as 8 ng/L) and specific, and requires no extraction stage. A preliminary study of healthy volunteers showed an intra-individual variation in plasma ML that was independent of the sex of the subject and the time of daytime collection. Investigation of the 24-h pattern of ML in seven men revealed a low-amplitude daily rhythm (P less than 0.03). Mean concentrations of ML between noon and midnight significantly exceeded those between 0030 and 1130 hours in each individual (P less than 0.05). This assay is practical and convenient, and it should greatly assist in investigation of factors affecting concentrations of ML in human plasma.