Single-cell RNA analysis identified eight chondrocyte subtypes in the embryonic growth plate.
To investigate how the expression of a mutant Idh1 alters cell populations in growth plate chondrocytes in a way that could cause the development of enchondromas, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis using embryonic growth plate chondrocytes from E18.5 Col2a1-Cre; ldh1LSL− R132Q L/WT (Idh1 mutant knock-in) and ldh1LSL− R132Q L/WT (Cre negative) controls. Cells from three animals were used for each genotype. 6061 cells from mice expressing the mutant Idh1 and 10562 cells from control animals were analyzed (supplementary materials, Table S1). The Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) dimensionality reduction method was used to visualize similar cells together in two-dimensional space, and this clustering via the Louvain method was performed at a resolution of 0.28. Chondrocytes express genes that function to produce a specialized extracellular matrix including collagen type two and glycosaminoglycan [16]. Genes expressed by all chondrocytes, Col2a1, Acan and Sox9 showed abundant expression in all the cells from control or mutant animals in this analysis (Fig. 1, Supplementary Fig. 2). Growth plate chondrocytes undergo a tightly regulated differentiation pathway including low proliferating chondrocytes, also termed resting chondrocytes and articular chondrocytes. Adjacent to the resting cells, proliferating chondrocytes, sometimes termed as column-forming flat chondrocytes are present, which differentiate into pre-hypertrophic chondrocytes which have a nominal proliferation rate. Pre-hypertrophic chondrocytes undergo a rapid volumetric increase to differentiate into hypertrophic chondrocytes (HC) [17–23]. Analysis revealed eight clusters within the chondrocyte population (Fig. 1A and Supplementary Fig. 1A and B). Growth plate chondrocyte subtype types were annotated based on the marker genes expressed (Supplementary Figs. 2 and 3),
Wnt inhibitory factor 1 (Wif1) and Creb5, genes expressed by articular chondrocytes [24], and this cluster was annotated as such. Cluster 2 was highly enriched for expression of Grem1 along with cartilage matrix associated protein (Ucma), genes expressed in resting chondrocytes [25]. Cluster 4 and 7 show increased expression of cell cycle genes, such as Mki67, Top2a, Cenpf and Lig1 and are designated as proliferating chondrocytes [26]. Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) induces chondrocyte maturation, enhances chondrocyte proliferation through Ihh induction and is expressed by proliferating and prehypertrophic chondrocytes [18], and was highly expressed in Clusters 0 and 1. Cluster 3 was enriched in Protein Kinase CGMP-Dependent 2 (Prkg2) which is required for the proliferative to hypertrophic transition of the growth plate chondrocytes [27], Indian hedgehog (Ihh) [28], Collagen type X (Col10a1) [29] and Sp7. These genes are expressed in both prehypertrophic chondrocytes and preosteoblasts, consistent with the potential for differentiated growth plate chondrocytes to become osteoblasts [30]. Markers of terminal hypertrophic cells (markers such as Mmp13 [31]) were not present in our data set (supplementary Fig. 2), consistent with hypertrophic chondrocytes being beyond the volume of conventional single cell sequencing approaches[32].
A distinct chondrocyte subpopulation is identified in Idh1 mutant cells:
Cluster 6 was contributed primarily by Idh1 mutant cells and was found in all the biological replicates from mutant animals (Supplementary Fig. 1A). About 12% of Idh1 mutant cells and less than 1% of control cells contributed to this cluster (p < 0.0001, Fig. 1B). This cluster was enriched in Teneurin-4 (Tenm4) [33], Corneodesmosin (Cdsn) [34], Secreted Frizzled Related Protein 5 (Sfrp5) [35] and solute carrier family 7 member 3 (Slc7a3) (Fig. 2A and gene profiles in supplementary data). Tenm4 is a transmembrane protein that can suppresses chondrogenic differentiation [33]. Sfrp5 can inhibit the Wnt signaling pathway, and it is expressed in proliferating and pre-hypertrophic growth plate cells [35]. Using immunofluorescence, we found that Sfrp5 protein expression was restricted to the proliferating and pre-hypertrophic in control samples, however the number of cells expressing and region of expression was expanded in the mutant samples (Fig. 2B). Cdsn is an extracellular glycoprotein essential for maintaining the skin barrier in adult skin and normal hair follicle formation that is not characteristically expressed in chondrocytes [36], but was detected in the mutant samples (Fig. 2C). The amino acid transporter protein solute carrier family 7 member 3 (Slc7a3) is a sodium-independent cationic amino acid transporter that mediates the uptake of the cationic amino acids arginine, lysine and ornithine in a sodium-independent manner, and is upregulated due to glutamine deprivation [37]. Chondrocytes with an Idh1 mutation are known to utilize glutamine as a cell energy source [15] and Slc7a3 upregulation is consistent with the notion that it these cells utilize glutamine at a high rate.
Matn1, Col9a1, Cnmd, and Matn3 were the most downregulated genes in Cluster 6. These genes encode for proteins important in cell-matrix interaction [38]. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) for cluster 6 genes, showed several downregulated pathways in this cluster (Fig. 2D and E) including ones involved in cartilage development extracellular matrix structural constituents, ossification, chondrocyte differentiation, and skeletal system development. There was also upregulation of genes involved in the cholesterol homeostasis pathway, sterol metabolic process, and mTORC1signaling pathways (Supplementary Fig. 4). Some of genes identified as highly expressed in cluster 6, such as Slc7a3, Cdsn and Sfrp5 were also identified as differentially regulated in bulk RNA sequencing analysis (Fig. 3A). A gene that is highly expressed in cell subpopulation can be identified in bulk sequencing if it is not expressed in other cell subpopulations. This finding is constant with the notion that these genes are primarily expressed in this unique cluster.
Two cell populations, cluster 2 and 5, were under-represented in Idh1 mutant animals:
In addition to identifying a cluster of cells uniquely present in the Idh1 mutant animals, we identified two cell populations which were composed of s fewer Idh1 mutant cells. Cluster 2 is composed of about 10% from mutant, while 24% from control cells (supplementary Table S2). This cluster expresses Grem1, Barx1, Ucma and Bgn (Fig. 4A). Ucma is normally expressed in differentiated chondrocytes, [20, 39, 40], and immunofluorescence verified that mutant growth plate has decreased Ucma expression compared to the controls (Fig. 4B). The GSEA analysis of this cluster identifies pathways which upregulated in ribosome biogenesis, protein biosynthetic processes as well as peptide metabolic process (Fig. 4C, 4D and supplementary Fig. 5A). Chondrocytes require high translational capacity to meet the demands of proliferation, matrix production, and differentiation [41]. Thus, this cluster may play a role in longitudinal bone growth, and growth plates lacking cells in this subpopulation may be responsible for the observed short limb phenotype. Cluster 5 also showed a significant decrease in the mutant cells (Fig. 1C and 5A). This cluster expressed genes characteristic of articular chondrocytes, and immunofluorescence for Creb5, a gene expressed in this cluster shows very few chondrocytes staining in the mutants compared to the control (Fig. 5B).
Pseudotime analysis shows differences between mutant and control growth plates.
To investigate additional differences between control and Idh1 mutant chondrocytes that might be identified using single cell analysis, cells were ordered using pseudotime analysis in an unsupervised manner. As anticipated, cluster 5 (articular chondrocytes) and cluster 2 (resting chondrocytes) map to early stages, while proliferating and prehypertrophic chondrocytes were from middle to late stages in the pseudotime scale, respectively (Fig. 6A). The cluster present primarily in mutant animals (cluster 6) was split into early and mid-late scales suggesting that this population is present at multiple stages in growth plate development, and that it is comprised of cells that remain in a less differentiated stage (Fig. 6B).