Characterization of splice isoform switching during human kidney development

Background: Nephrons are the functional units of the kidney. During kidney development, cells from the cap mesenchyme – a transient kidney-specific progenitor state – undergo a mesenchymal to epithelial transition (MET) and subsequently differentiate into the various epithelial cell types that create the tubular structures of the nephron. Faults in this transition can lead to a pediatric malignancy of the kidney called Wilms’ tumor that mimics normal kidney development. While human kidney development has been characterized at the gene expression level, a comprehensive characterization of alternative splicing is lacking. Methods: We performed RNA sequencing on cell populations representing early, intermediate, and late developmental stages of the human fetal kidney, as well as three blastemal-predominant Wilms’ tumor patient-derived xenografts. Results: We identified a set of transcripts that are alternatively spliced between the different developmental stages. Moreover, we found that cells from the earliest developmental stage have a mesenchymal splice-isoform profile that is similar to that of blastemal-predominant Wilms’ tumors. RNA binding motif enrichment analysis suggests that the mRNA binding proteins ESRP1, ESRP2, RBFOX2, and QKI regulate mRNA splice isoform switching during human kidney development. Conclusions: These findings illuminate new molecular mechanisms involved in human kidney development and pediatric kidney tumors. We performed RNA sequencing on three cell populations representing early, intermediate, and late developmental stages of the human fetal kidney, and on three blastemal-predominant Wilms’ tumor patient-derived xenografts.