Lineage tracing using genetically engineered mouse models is an essential tool for investigating cell-fate decisions of progenitor cells and biology of mature cell types, with relevance to physiology and disease progression. To study disease development, an inventory of an organ's cell types and understanding of physiologic function is paramount. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing to examine heterogeneity of murine pancreatic duct cells, pancreatobiliary cells, and intrapancreatic bile duct cells. We isolated duct cells within the murine pancreas using a Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA) lectin sorting strategy that labels all pancreatic duct cell types. Our data suggested the substructure of murine pancreatic duct cells is compartmentalized into three subpopulations. We describe an epithelial-mesenchymal transitory axis in our three pancreatic duct subpopulations and identify SPP1 as a regulator of this fate decision as well as human duct cell de-differentiation. Our results further identify functional heterogeneity within pancreatic duct subpopulations by elucidating a role for Geminin in accumulation of DNA damage in the setting of chronic pancreatitis. Our findings implicate diverse functional roles for subpopulations of pancreatic duct cells in maintenance of duct cell identity and disease progression and establish a comprehensive road map of murine pancreatic duct cell, pancreatobiliary cell, and intrapancreatic bile duct cell homeostasis. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Download data

• Downloaded 859 times
• Download rankings, all-time:
  • Site-wide: 35,591
  • In bioinformatics: 3,844
• Year to date:
  • Site-wide: 17,296
• Since beginning of last month:
  • Site-wide: 40,071

Altmetric data

Downloads over time

Distribution of downloads per paper, site-wide