A single-cell atlas of West African lungfish respiratory system reveals evolutionary adaptations to terrestrialization

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Ruihua Zhang, Qun Liu, Shanshan Pan, Yingying Zhang, Yating Qin, Xiao Du, Zengbao Yuan, Yongrui Lu, Yue Song, Mengqi Zhang, Nannan Zhang, Jie Ma, Zhe Zhang, Xiaodong Jia, Kun Wang, Shunping He, Shanshan Liu, Ming Ni, Xin Liu, Xun Xu, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Inge Seim, Guangyi Fan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Portfolio 2023
• Subjects: Science; Q; Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41309-3; https://doaj.org/article/d239fd4cd0b44e5b8d6bddcb8fb64693

Abstract The six species of lungfish possess both lungs and gills and are the closest extant relatives of tetrapods. Here, we report a single-cell transcriptome atlas of the West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens). This species manifests the most extreme form of terrestrialization, a life history strategy to survive dry periods that can last for years, characterized by dormancy and reversible adaptive changes of the gills and lungs. Our atlas highlights the cell type diversity of the West African lungfish, including gene expression consistent with phenotype changes of terrestrialization. Comparison with terrestrial tetrapods and ray-finned fishes reveals broad homology between the swim bladder and lung cell types as well as shared and idiosyncratic changes of the external gills of the West African lungfish and the internal gills of Atlantic salmon. The single-cell atlas presented here provides a valuable resource for further exploration of the respiratory system evolution in vertebrates and the diversity of lungfish terrestrialization.