Centrosomes are major microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) that play an important role in chromosome segregation during cell division. Centrosomes provide a stable anchor for microtubules, constituting the centers of the spindle poles in mitotic cells, and determining the orientation of cell division. However, visualization of centrosomes is challenging because of their small size. Especially in mouse tissues, it has been extremely challenging to observe centrosomes belonging to a specific cell type of interest among multiple comingled cell types. To overcome this obstacle, we generated a tissue-specific centrosome indicator. In this mouse line, a construct containing a floxed neomyocin resistance gene with a triplicate polyA sequence followed by an EGFP-Centrin1 fusion cassette was knocked into the Rosa locus. Upon Cre-mediated excision, EGFP-Centrin1 was expressed under the control of the Rosa locus. Experiments utilizing mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) demonstrated the feasibility of real-time imaging, and showed that EGFP-Centrin1 expression mirrored the endogenous centrosome cycle, undergoing precisely one round of duplication through the cell cycle. Moreover, experiments using embryo and adult mouse tissues demonstrated that EGFP-Centrin1 specifically mirrors the localization of endogenous centrosomes. genesis 54:286-296, 2016. © 2016 The Authors. Genesis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rationale

Discerning cardiac myocyte cell cycle behavior is challenging owing to commingled cell types with higher proliferative activity.

Objective

To investigate cardiac myocyte cell cycle activity in development and the early postnatal period.

Methods and results

To facilitate studies of cell type-specific proliferation, we have generated tissue-specific cell cycle indicator BAC transgenic mouse lines. Experiments using embryonic fibroblasts from CyclinA2-LacZ-floxed-EGFP, or CyclinA2-EGFP mice, demonstrated that CyclinA2-βgal and CyclinA2-EGFP were expressed from mid-G1 to mid-M phase. Using Troponin T-Cre;CyclinA2-LacZ-EGFP mice, we examined cardiac myocyte cell cycle activity during embryogenesis and in the early postnatal period. Our data demonstrated that right ventricular cardiac myocytes exhibited reduced cell cycle activity relative to left ventricular cardiac myocytes in the immediate perinatal period. Additionally, in contrast to a recent report, we could find no evidence to support a burst of cardiac myocyte cell cycle activity at postnatal day 15.

Conclusions

Our data highlight advantages of a cardiac myocyte-specific cell cycle reporter for studies of cardiac myocyte cell cycle regulation.

Understanding cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulation after birth is key to optimizing regenerative strategies for the heart post-injury, yet poses multiple technical challenges, as evidenced by recent studies that have arrived at divergent conclusions. In a recent publication in Cell, Alkass et al undertook multiple approaches to examine cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulation in the first three weeks after birth. Here, we summarize results of Alkass et al and three other groups in examining preadolescent cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulation, highlighting the distinct approaches and incumbent caveats.

Failure of trabecular myocytes to undergo appropriate cell cycle withdrawal leads to ventricular noncompaction and heart failure. Signaling of growth factor receptor ERBB2 is critical for myocyte proliferation and trabeculation. However, the mechanisms underlying appropriate downregulation of trabecular ERBB2 signaling are little understood. Here, we have found that the endocytic adaptor proteins NUMB and NUMBL were required for downregulation of ERBB2 signaling in maturing trabeculae. Loss of NUMB and NUMBL resulted in a partial block of late endosome formation, resulting in sustained ERBB2 signaling and STAT5 activation. Unexpectedly, activated STAT5 overrode Hippo-mediated inhibition and drove YAP1 to the nucleus. Consequent aberrant cardiomyocyte proliferation resulted in ventricular noncompaction that was markedly rescued by heterozygous loss of function of either ERBB2 or YAP1. Further investigations revealed that NUMB and NUMBL interacted with small GTPase Rab7 to transition ERBB2 from early to late endosome for degradation. Our studies provide insight into mechanisms by which NUMB and NUMBL promote cardiomyocyte cell cycle withdrawal and highlight previously unsuspected connections between pathways that are important for cardiomyocyte cell cycle reentry, with relevance to ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy and regenerative medicine.

Centrosomes are microtubule-organizing centers that facilitate bipolar mitotic spindle assembly and chromosome segregation. Recognizing that centrosome amplification is a common feature of aneuploid cancer cells, we tested whether supernumerary centrosomes are sufficient to drive tumor development. To do this, we constructed and analyzed mice in which centrosome amplification can be induced by a Cre-recombinase-mediated increase in expression of Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4). Elevated Plk4 in mouse fibroblasts produced supernumerary centrosomes and enhanced the expected mitotic errors, but proliferation continued only after inactivation of the p53 tumor suppressor. Increasing Plk4 levels in mice with functional p53 produced centrosome amplification in liver and skin, but this did not promote spontaneous tumor development in these tissues or enhance the growth of chemically induced skin tumors. In the absence of p53, Plk4 overexpression generated widespread centrosome amplification, but did not drive additional tumors or affect development of the fatal thymic lymphomas that arise in animals lacking p53. We conclude that, independent of p53 status, supernumerary centrosomes are not sufficient to drive tumor formation.