Sensory neuroblast quiescence depends on vascular cytoneme contacts and sensory neuronal differentiation requires initiation of blood flow

In many organs, stem cell function depends on communication with their niche partners. Cranial sensory neurons develop in close proximity to blood vessels; however, whether vasculature is an integral component of their niches is yet unknown. Here, two separate roles for vasculature in cranial sensory neurogenesis in zebrafish are uncovered. The first involves precise spatiotemporal endothelial-neuroblast cytoneme contacts and Dll4-Notch signaling to restrain neuroblast proliferation. The second, instead, requires blood flow to trigger a transcriptional response that modifies neuroblast metabolic status and induces sensory neuron differentiation. In contrast, no role of sensory neurogenesis in vascular development is found, suggesting unidirectional signaling from vasculature to sensory neuroblasts. Altogether, we demonstrate that the cranial vasculature constitutes a niche component of the sensory ganglia that regulates the pace of their growth and differentiation dynamics.The work was supported by MINECO - BFU2014-53203-P and AEI - BFU2017-82723-P (FEDER) from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain to B.A. and by the Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu (MDM-2014-0370) from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain