- Yan, Kelley S;
- Gevaert, Olivier;
- Zheng, Grace XY;
- Anchang, Benedict;
- Probert, Christopher S;
- Larkin, Kathryn A;
- Davies, Paige S;
- Cheng, Zhuan-fen;
- Kaddis, John S;
- Han, Arnold;
- Roelf, Kelly;
- Calderon, Ruben I;
- Cynn, Esther;
- Hu, Xiaoyi;
- Mandleywala, Komal;
- Wilhelmy, Julie;
- Grimes, Sue M;
- Corney, David C;
- Boutet, Stéphane C;
- Terry, Jessica M;
- Belgrader, Phillip;
- Ziraldo, Solongo B;
- Mikkelsen, Tarjei S;
- Wang, Fengchao;
- von Furstenberg, Richard J;
- Smith, Nicholas R;
- Chandrakesan, Parthasarathy;
- May, Randal;
- Chrissy, Mary Ann S;
- Jain, Rajan;
- Cartwright, Christine A;
- Niland, Joyce C;
- Hong, Young-Kwon;
- Carrington, Jill;
- Breault, David T;
- Epstein, Jonathan;
- Houchen, Courtney W;
- Lynch, John P;
- Martin, Martin G;
- Plevritis, Sylvia K;
- Curtis, Christina;
- Ji, Hanlee P;
- Li, Linheng;
- Henning, Susan J;
- Wong, Melissa H;
- Kuo, Calvin J
Several cell populations have been reported to possess intestinal stem cell (ISC) activity during homeostasis and injury-induced regeneration. Here, we explored inter-relationships between putative mouse ISC populations by comparative RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). The transcriptomes of multiple cycling ISC populations closely resembled Lgr5+ ISCs, the most well-defined ISC pool, but Bmi1-GFP+ cells were distinct and enriched for enteroendocrine (EE) markers, including Prox1. Prox1-GFP+ cells exhibited sustained clonogenic growth in vitro, and lineage-tracing of Prox1+ cells revealed long-lived clones during homeostasis and after radiation-induced injury in vivo. Single-cell mRNA-seq revealed two subsets of Prox1-GFP+ cells, one of which resembled mature EE cells while the other displayed low-level EE gene expression but co-expressed tuft cell markers, Lgr5 and Ascl2, reminiscent of label-retaining secretory progenitors. Our data suggest that the EE lineage, including mature EE cells, comprises a reservoir of homeostatic and injury-inducible ISCs, extending our understanding of cellular plasticity and stemness.