Single Lgr5- or Lgr6-expressing taste stem/progenitor cells generate taste bud cells ex vivo

Significance Taste tissue regenerates continuously throughout the life span in mammals. Here, using lineage tracing and a culture system, we show that leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 5-expressing and leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor 6-expressing taste stem/progenitor cells generate mature taste cells in vivo and ex vivo. Importantly, our ex vivo studies show that single-progenitor cells can generate all mature taste cell types and that differentiated taste cells form in the absence of innervation. This ex vivo model mimics the development of taste bud cells in taste papillae, recapitulates the process of taste renewal from adult taste stem cells to mature taste cells, and provides a means to study the regulation of taste cell generation and to understand the origins and cell lineage relationships within taste buds.