A robust and tunable system for targeted cell ablation in developing embryos

Cell ablation is a key method in the research fields of developmental biology, tissue regeneration, and tissue homeostasis. Eliminating specific cell populations allows for characterizing interactions that control cell dif-ferentiation, death, behavior, and spatial organization of cells. Current methodologies for inducing cell death suffer from relatively slow kinetics, making them unsuitable for analyzing rapid events and following primary and immediate consequences of the ablation. To address this, we developed a cell-ablation system that is based on bacterial toxin/anti-toxin proteins and enables rapid and cell-autonomous elimination of specific cell types and organs in zebrafish embryos. A unique feature of this system is that it uses an anti-toxin, which allows for controlling the degree and timing of ablation and the resulting phenotypes. The transgenic zebra -fish generated in this work represent a highly efficient tool for cell ablation, and this approach is applicable to other model organisms as demonstrated here for Drosophila.

Automated summary

Cell ablation is a crucial technique in the fields of developmental biology, tissue regeneration, and tissue homeostasis. The existing methods for inducing cell death have slow kinetics, which hinders the analysis of rapid events. To overcome this limitation, a new cell ablation system based on bacterial toxin/anti-toxin proteins has been developed, enabling rapid and cell-autonomous elimination of specific cell types and organs.