Sibling chimerism among microglia in marmosets
8 affiliations
- 1Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
- 2Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- 3Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 025
- 4Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 014, USA
- 5Princeton Neuroscience Institute
- 6McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- 7McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 0219, USA
- 8Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA 02115
Abstract
connected circulatory systems (through which stem cells transit) lead to persistent blood chimerism (12-80%) throughout life. The presence of Y-chromosome DNA sequences in other organs of female marmosets has long suggested that chimerism might also affect these organs. However, a longstanding question is whether this chimerism is driven by blood-derived cells or involves contributions from other cell types. To address this question, we analyzed single-cell RNA-seq data from blood, liver, kidney and multiple brain regions across a number of marmosets, using transcribed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify cells with the sibling's genome in various cell types within these tissues. Sibling-derived chimerism in all tissues arose entirely from cells of hematopoietic origin (i.e., myeloid and lymphoid lineages). In brain tissue this was reflected as sibling-derived chimerism among microglia (20-52%) and macrophages (18-64%) but not among other resident cell types (i.e., neurons, glia or ependymal cells). The percentage of microglia that were sibling-derived showed significant variation across brain regions, even within individual animals, likely reflecting distinct responses by siblings' microglia to local recruitment or proliferation cues or, potentially, distinct clonal expansion histories in different brain areas. In the animals and tissues we analyzed, microglial gene expression profiles bore a much stronger relationship to local/host context than to sibling genetic differences. Naturally occurring marmoset chimerism will provide new ways to understand the effects of genes, mutations and brain contexts on microglial biology and to distinguish between effects of microglia and other cell types on brain phenotypes.
Related
- Evaluation of a Microhaplotype Marker Panel for Post-Transplant Chimerism Analysis
- Acute head shaking precedes chronic corpus callosum deficits during repeated cocaine exposure in common marmosets
- Exploring Sibling Dynamics in the Context of Parentification: A Scoping Review of Relational and Developmental Impacts
- Indications for chimerism analysis on sorted cell populations after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SFGM-TC)
- Histological characterization of major internal organs in infant common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)
BibTeX
@article{rosario2026sibling,
title = {{Sibling chimerism among microglia in marmosets}},
author = {Ricardo C.H. del Rosario and Fenna Marie Krienen and Qiangge Zhang and Melissa Goldman and Curtis J. Mello and Alyssa Lutservitz and Kiku Ichihara and Alec Wysoker and James C. Nemesh and Guoping Feng and Steven A. McCarroll},
journal = {eLife},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.7554/elife.93640.3},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.93640.3},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Sibling chimerism among microglia in marmosets
AU - Ricardo C.H. del Rosario
AU - Fenna Marie Krienen
AU - Qiangge Zhang
AU - Melissa Goldman
AU - Curtis J. Mello
AU - Alyssa Lutservitz
AU - Kiku Ichihara
AU - Alec Wysoker
AU - James C. Nemesh
AU - Guoping Feng
AU - Steven A. McCarroll
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/14
JO - eLife
DO - 10.7554/elife.93640.3
UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.93640.3
AB - connected circulatory systems (through which stem cells transit) lead to persistent blood chimerism (12-80%) throughout life. The presence of Y-chromosome DNA sequences in other organs of female marmosets has long suggested that chimerism might also affect these organs. However, a longstanding question is whether this chimerism is driven by blood-derived cells or involves contributions from other cell types. To address this question, we analyzed single-cell RNA-seq data from blood, liver, kidney and multiple brain regions across a number of marmosets, using transcribed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to identify cells with the sibling's genome in various cell types within these tissues. Sibling-derived chimerism in all tissues arose entirely from cells of hematopoietic origin (i.e., myeloid and lymphoid lineages). In brain tissue this was reflected as sibling-derived chimerism among microglia (20-52%) and macrophages (18-64%) but not among other resident cell types (i.e., neurons, glia or ependymal cells). The percentage of microglia that were sibling-derived showed significant variation across brain regions, even within individual animals, likely reflecting distinct responses by siblings' microglia to local recruitment or proliferation cues or, potentially, distinct clonal expansion histories in different brain areas. In the animals and tissues we analyzed, microglial gene expression profiles bore a much stronger relationship to local/host context than to sibling genetic differences. Naturally occurring marmoset chimerism will provide new ways to understand the effects of genes, mutations and brain contexts on microglial biology and to distinguish between effects of microglia and other cell types on brain phenotypes.
SN - 2050-084X
ER -