Plasticity of distal nephron epithelia from human kidney organoids enables the induction of ureteric tip and stalk.

During development, distinct progenitors contribute to the nephrons versus the ureteric epithelium of the kidney. By performing single-cell RNA sequencing on iPSC-derived kidney organoids and primary fetal kidney tissue and by reanalysing the transcriptional distinction between distal nephron and ureteric epithelium in human fetal kidney, the authors show that while existing nephron-containing kidney organoids contain distal nephron epithelium and no ureteric epithelium, this distal nephron segment alone displays significant in vitro plasticity and can adopt a ureteric epithelial tip identity when isolated and cultured in defined conditions.