Distributed hepatocytes expressing telomerase repopulate the liver in homeostasis and injury

Hepatocytes are replenished gradually during homeostasis and robustly after liver injury(1,2). In adults, new hepatocytes originate from the existing hepatocyte pool(3-8), but the cellular source of renewing hepatocytes remains incompletely understood. Telomerase is expressed in many stem cell populations, and telomerase pathway gene mutations are linked to liver diseases(9-11). Here, we identify a subset of hepatocytes that expresses high levels of telomerase and show that this hepatocyte subset repopulates the liver during homeostasis and injury. Using lineage tracing from the telomerase reverse transcriptase (Tert) locus in mice, we demonstrate that rare hepatocytes with high telomerase expression are distributed throughout the liver lobule. During homeostasis, these cells regenerate hepatocytes in all lobular zones, and both self-renew and differentiate to yield expanding hepatocyte clones that eventually dominate the liver. In injury responses, the repopulating activity of TERT(High) hepatocytes is accelerated and their progeny cross zonal boundaries. RNA-seq reveals that metabolic genes are down regulated in TERT(High) hepatocytes, indicating that metabolic activity and repopulating activity may be segregated within the hepatocyte lineage. Genetic ablation of TERT(High) hepatocytes combined with chemical injury causes a marked increase in stellate cell activation and fibrosis. These results provide support for a ‘distributed model’ of hepatocyte renewal in which a subset of hepatocytes dispersed throughout the lobule clonally expands to maintain liver mass.