Neuromesodermal specification during head-to-tail body axis formation.

The anterior-to-posterior (head-to-tail) body axis is extraordinarily diverse among vertebrates but conserved within species. Body axis development requires a population of axial progenitors that resides at the posterior of the embryo to sustain elongation and is then eliminated once axis extension is complete. These progenitors occupy distinct domains in the posterior (tail-end) of the embryo and contribute to various lineages along the body axis. The subset of axial progenitors with neuromesodermal competency will generate both the neural tube (the precursor of the spinal cord), and the trunk and tail somites (producing the musculoskeleton) during embryo development. These axial progenitors are called Neuromesodermal Competent cells (NMCs) and Neuromesodermal Progenitors (NMPs). NMCs/NMPs have recently attracted interest beyond the field of developmental biology due to their clinical potential. In the mouse, the maintenance of neuromesodermal competency relies on a fine balance between a trio of known signals: Wnt/ß-catenin, FGF signalling activity and suppression of retinoic acid signalling. These signals regulate the relative expression levels of the mesodermal transcription factor Brachyury and the neural transcription factor Sox2, permitting the maintenance of progenitor identity when co-expressed, and either mesoderm or neural lineage commitment when the balance is tilted towards either Brachyury or Sox2, respectively. Despite important advances in understanding key genes and cellular behaviours involved in these fate decisions, how the balance between mesodermal and neural fates is achieved remains largely unknown. In this chapter, we provide an overview of signalling and gene regulatory networks in NMCs/NMPs. We discuss mutant phenotypes associated with axial defects, hinting at the potential significant role of lesser studied proteins in the maintenance and differentiation of the progenitors that fuel axial elongation.

Generation of patterns in the paraxial mesoderm.

The Segmentation Clock is a tissue-level patterning system that enables the segmentation of the vertebral column precursors into transient multicellular blocks called somites. This patterning system comprises a set of elements that are essential for correct segmentation. Under the so-called "Clock and Wavefront" model, the system consists of two elements, a genetic oscillator that manifests itself as traveling waves of gene expression, and a regressing wavefront that transforms the temporally periodic signal encoded in the oscillations into a permanent spatially periodic pattern of somite boundaries. Over the last twenty years, every new discovery about the Segmentation Clock has been tightly linked to the nomenclature of the "Clock and Wavefront" model. This constrained allocation of discoveries into these two elements has generated long-standing debates in the field as what defines molecularly the wavefront and how and where the interaction between the two elements establishes the future somite boundaries. In this review, we propose an expansion of the "Clock and Wavefront" model into three elements, "Clock", "Wavefront" and signaling gradients. We first provide a detailed description of the components and regulatory mechanisms of each element, and we then examine how the spatiotemporal integration of the three elements leads to the establishment of the presumptive somite boundaries. To be as exhaustive as possible, we focus on the Segmentation Clock in zebrafish. Furthermore, we show how this three-element expansion of the model provides a better understanding of the somite formation process and we emphasize where our current understanding of this patterning system remains obscure.

The people behind the papers - Jingjing Sun and Angelike Stathopoulos.

Collective migration of caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) cells in Drosophila embryos helps form the longitudinal muscles of the larval gut. In their study, Angelike Stathopoulos and colleagues reveal that cell division coordinates two gene expression programmes in migrating CVM cells. To know more about their work, we spoke to the first author, Jingjing Sun, and the corresponding author, Angelike Stathopoulos, Professor in the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, USA.

Combinatorial interpretation of BMP and WNT controls the decision between primitive streak and extraembryonic fates.

BMP signaling is essential for mammalian gastrulation, as it initiates a cascade of signals that control self-organized patterning. As development is highly dynamic, it is crucial to understand how time-dependent combinatorial signaling affects cellular differentiation. Here, we show that BMP signaling duration is a crucial control parameter that determines cell fates upon the exit from pluripotency through its interplay with the induced secondary signal WNT. BMP signaling directly converts cells from pluripotent to extraembryonic fates while simultaneously upregulating Wnt signaling, which promotes primitive streak and mesodermal specification. Using live-cell imaging of signaling and cell fate reporters together with a simple mathematical model, we show that this circuit produces a temporal morphogen effect where, once BMP signal duration is above a threshold for differentiation, intermediate and long pulses of BMP signaling produce specification of mesoderm and extraembryonic fates, respectively. Our results provide a systems-level picture of how these signaling pathways control the landscape of early human development.

The Clock and Wavefront Self-Organizing model recreates the dynamics of mouse somitogenesis in vivo and in vitro.

During mouse development, presomitic mesoderm cells synchronize Wnt and Notch oscillations, creating sequential phase waves that pattern somites. Traditional somitogenesis models attribute phase waves to a global modulation of the oscillation frequency. However, increasing evidence suggests that they could arise in a self-organizing manner. Here, we introduce the Sevilletor, a novel reaction-diffusion system that serves as a framework to compare different somitogenesis patterning hypotheses. Using this framework, we propose the Clock and Wavefront Self-Organizing model that considers an excitable self-organizing region where phase waves form independent of global frequency gradients. The model recapitulates the change in relative phase of Wnt and Notch observed during mouse somitogenesis and provides a theoretical basis for understanding the excitability of mouse presomitic mesoderm cells in vitro.

Dynamic Hippo pathway activity underlies mesenchymal differentiation during lung alveolar morphogenesis.

Alveologenesis, the final stage in lung development, substantially remodels the distal lung, expanding the alveolar surface area for efficient gas exchange. Secondary crest myofibroblasts (SCMF) exist transiently in the neonatal distal lung and are crucial for alveologenesis. However, the pathways that regulate SCMF function, proliferation and temporal identity remain poorly understood. To address this, we purified SCMFs from reporter mice, performed bulk RNA-seq and found dynamic changes in Hippo-signaling components during alveologenesis. We deleted the Hippo effectors Yap/Taz from Acta2-expressing cells at the onset of alveologenesis, causing a significant arrest in alveolar development. Using single cell RNA-seq, we identified a distinct cluster of cells in mutant lungs with altered expression of marker genes associated with proximal mesenchymal cell types, airway smooth muscle and alveolar duct myofibroblasts. In vitro studies confirmed that Yap/Taz regulates myofibroblast-associated gene signature and contractility. Together, our findings show that Yap/Taz is essential for maintaining functional myofibroblast identity during postnatal alveologenesis.

Spatio-temporal dynamics of early somite segmentation in the chicken embryo.

During vertebrate embryo development, the body is progressively segmented along the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis early in development. The rate of somite formation is controlled by the somitogenesis embryo clock (EC), which was first described as gene expression oscillations of hairy1 (hes4) in the presomitic mesoderm of chick embryos with 15-20 somites. Here, the EC displays the same periodicity as somite formation, 90 min, whereas the posterior-most somites (44-52) only arise every 150 minutes, matched by a corresponding slower pace of the EC. Evidence suggests that the rostral-most somites are formed faster, however, their periodicity and the EC expression dynamics in these early stages are unknown. In this study, we used time-lapse imaging of chicken embryos from primitive streak to somitogenesis stages with high temporal resolution (3-minute intervals). We measured the length between the anterior-most and the last formed somitic clefts in each captured frame and developed a simple algorithm to automatically infer both the length and time of formation of each somite. We found that the occipital somites (up to somite 5) form at an average rate of 75 minutes, while somites 6 onwards are formed approximately every 90 minutes. We also assessed the expression dynamics of hairy1 using half-embryo explants cultured for different periods of time. This showed that EC hairy1 expression is highly dynamic prior to somitogenesis and assumes a clear oscillatory behaviour as the first somites are formed. Importantly, using ex ovo culture and live-imaging techniques, we showed that the hairy1 expression pattern recapitulates with the formation of each new pair of somites, indicating that somite segmentation is coupled with EC oscillations since the onset of somitogenesis.

Single-cell transcriptomic profiling of the neonatal oviduct and uterus reveals new insights into upper Müllerian duct regionalization.

The upper Müllerian duct (MD) is patterned and specified into two morphologically and functionally distinct organs, the oviduct and uterus. It is known that this regionalization process is instructed by inductive signals from the adjacent mesenchyme. However, the interaction landscape between epithelium and mesenchyme during upper MD development remains largely unknown. Here, we performed single-cell transcriptomic profiling of mouse neonatal oviducts and uteri at the initiation of MD epithelial differentiation (postnatal day 3). We identified major cell types including epithelium, mesenchyme, pericytes, mesothelium, endothelium, and immune cells in both organs with established markers. Moreover, we uncovered region-specific epithelial and mesenchymal subpopulations and then deduced region-specific ligand-receptor pairs mediating mesenchymal-epithelial interactions along the craniocaudal axis. Unexpectedly, we discovered a mesenchymal subpopulation marked by neurofilaments with specific localizations at the mesometrial pole of both the neonatal oviduct and uterus. Lastly, we analyzed and revealed organ-specific signature genes of pericytes and mesothelial cells. Taken together, our study enriches our knowledge of upper MD development, and provides a manageable list of potential genes, pathways, and region-specific cell subtypes for future functional studies.

Vangl-dependent mesenchymal thinning shapes the distal lung during murine sacculation.

The planar cell polarity (PCP) complex is speculated to function in murine lung development, where branching morphogenesis generates an epithelial tree whose distal tips expand dramatically during sacculation. Here, we show that PCP is dispensable in the airway epithelium for sacculation. Rather, we find a Celsr1-independent role for the PCP component Vangl in the pulmonary mesenchyme: loss of Vangl1/2 inhibits mesenchymal thinning and expansion of the saccular epithelium. Further, loss of mesenchymal Wnt5a mimics sacculation defects observed in Vangl2-mutant lungs, implicating mesenchymal Wnt5a/Vangl signaling as a key regulator of late lung morphogenesis. A computational model predicts that sacculation requires a fluid mesenchymal compartment. Lineage-tracing and cell-shape analyses are consistent with the mesenchyme acting as a fluid tissue, suggesting that loss of Vangl1/2 impacts the ability of mesenchymal cells to exchange neighbors. Our data thus identify an explicit function for Vangl and the pulmonary mesenchyme in actively shaping the saccular epithelium.

Early neural specification of stem cells is mediated by a set of SOX2-dependent neural-associated enhancers.

SOX2 is a transcription factor involved in the regulatory network maintaining the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells in culture as well as in early embryos. In addition, SOX2 plays a pivotal role in neural stem cell formation and neurogenesis. How SOX2 can serve both processes has remained elusive. Here, we identified a set of SOX2-dependent neural-associated enhancers required for neural lineage priming. They form a distinct subgroup (1,898) among 8,531 OCT4/SOX2/NANOG-bound enhancers characterized by enhanced SOX2 binding and chromatin accessibility. Activation of these enhancers is triggered by neural induction of wild-type cells or by default in Smad4-ablated cells resistant to mesoderm induction and is antagonized by mesodermal transcription factors via Sox2 repression. Our data provide mechanistic insight into the transition from the pluripotency state to the early neural fate and into the regulation of early neural versus mesodermal specification in embryonic stem cells and embryos.

The development of brain pericytes requires expression of the transcription factor nkx3.1 in intermediate precursors.

Brain pericytes are one of the critical cell types that regulate endothelial barrier function and activity, thus ensuring adequate blood flow to the brain. The genetic pathways guiding undifferentiated cells into mature pericytes are not well understood. We show here that pericyte precursor populations from both neural crest and head mesoderm of zebrafish express the transcription factor nkx3.1 develop into brain pericytes. We identify the gene signature of these precursors and show that an nkx3.1-, foxf2a-, and cxcl12b-expressing pericyte precursor population is present around the basilar artery prior to artery formation and pericyte recruitment. The precursors later spread throughout the brain and differentiate to express canonical pericyte markers. Cxcl12b-Cxcr4 signaling is required for pericyte attachment and differentiation. Further, both nkx3.1 and cxcl12b are necessary and sufficient in regulating pericyte number as loss inhibits and gain increases pericyte number. Through genetic experiments, we have defined a precursor population for brain pericytes and identified genes critical for their differentiation.

Two sequential gene expression programs bridged by cell division support long-distance collective cell migration.

The precise assembly of tissues and organs relies on spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression to coordinate the collective behavior of cells. In Drosophila embryos, the midgut musculature is formed through collective migration of caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) cells, but how gene expression changes as cells migrate is not well understood. Here, we have focused on ten genes expressed in the CVM and the cis-regulatory sequences controlling their expression. Although some genes are continuously expressed, others are expressed only early or late during migration. Late expression relates to cell cycle progression, as driving string/Cdc25 causes earlier division of CVM cells and accelerates the transition to late gene expression. In particular, we found that the cell cycle effector transcription factor E2F1 is a required input for the late gene CG5080. Furthermore, whereas late genes are broadly expressed in all CVM cells, early gene transcripts are polarized to the anterior or posterior ends of the migrating collective. We show this polarization requires transcription factors Snail, Zfh1 and Dorsocross. Collectively, these results identify two sequential gene expression programs bridged by cell division that support long-distance directional migration of CVM cells.

Deep Learning Powered Identification of Differentiated Early Mesoderm Cells from Pluripotent Stem Cells.

Pluripotent stem cells can be differentiated into all three germ-layers including ecto-, endo-, and mesoderm in vitro. However, the early identification and rapid characterization of each germ-layer in response to chemical and physical induction of differentiation is limited. This is a long-standing issue for rapid and high-throughput screening to determine lineage specification efficiency. Here, we present deep learning (DL) methodologies for predicting and classifying early mesoderm cells differentiated from embryoid bodies (EBs) based on cellular and nuclear morphologies. Using a transgenic murine embryonic stem cell (mESC) line, namely OGTR1, we validated the upregulation of mesodermal genes (Brachyury (T): DsRed) in cells derived from EBs for the deep learning model training. Cells were classified into mesodermal and non-mesodermal (representing endo- and ectoderm) classes using a convolutional neural network (CNN) model called InceptionV3 which achieved a very high classification accuracy of 97% for phase images and 90% for nuclei images. In addition, we also performed image segmentation using an Attention U-Net CNN and obtained a mean intersection over union of 61% and 69% for phase-contrast and nuclear images, respectively. This work highlights the potential of integrating cell culture, imaging technologies, and deep learning methodologies in identifying lineage specification, thus contributing to the advancements in regenerative medicine. Collectively, our trained deep learning models can predict the mesoderm cells with high accuracy based on cellular and nuclear morphologies.

Direct reprogramming of non-limb fibroblasts to cells with properties of limb progenitors.

The early limb bud consists of mesenchymal limb progenitors derived from the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM). The LPM also gives rise to the mesodermal components of the flank and neck. However, the cells at these other levels cannot produce the variety of cell types found in the limb. Taking advantage of a direct reprogramming approach, we find a set of factors (Prdm16, Zbtb16, and Lin28a) normally expressed in the early limb bud and capable of imparting limb progenitor-like properties to mouse non-limb fibroblasts. The reprogrammed cells show similar gene expression profiles and can differentiate into similar cell types as endogenous limb progenitors. The further addition of Lin41 potentiates the proliferation of the reprogrammed cells. These results suggest that these same four factors may play pivotal roles in the specification of endogenous limb progenitors.

The people behind the papers - Fay Cooper and Anestis Tsakiridis.

Neuromesodermal progenitor (NMPs) give rise to neural and mesodermal tissues during axis elongation. In their study, Fay Cooper, Anestis Tsakiridis and colleagues reveal the role of Notch signalling in NMP differentiation and its role in Hox gene expression. To learn more about their work, we spoke to first and co-corresponding author, Fay Cooper, and to co-corresponding author Anestis Tsakiridis, Group Leader at the University of Sheffield, UK.

HBO1 determines SMAD action in pluripotency and mesendoderm specification.

TGF-ß signaling family plays an essential role to regulate fate decisions in pluripotency and lineage specification. How the action of TGF-ß family signaling is intrinsically executed remains not fully elucidated. Here, we show that HBO1, a MYST histone acetyltransferase (HAT) is an essential cell intrinsic determinant for TGF-ß signaling in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). HBO1-/- hESCs fail to response to TGF-ß signaling to maintain pluripotency and spontaneously differentiate into neuroectoderm. Moreover, HBO1 deficient hESCs show complete defect in mesendoderm specification in BMP4-triggered gastruloids or teratomas. Molecularly, HBO1 interacts with SMAD4 and co-binds the open chromatin labeled by H3K14ac and H3K4me3 in undifferentiated hESCs. Upon differentiation, HBO1/SMAD4 co-bind and maintain the mesoderm genes in BMP4-triggered mesoderm cells while lose chromatin occupancy in neural cells induced by dual-SMAD inhibition. Our data reveal an essential role of HBO1, a chromatin factor to determine the action of SMAD in both human pluripotency and mesendoderm specification.

Sall4 regulates posterior trunk mesoderm development by promoting mesodermal gene expression and repressing neural genes in the mesoderm.

The trunk axial skeleton develops from paraxial mesoderm cells. Our recent study demonstrated that conditional knockout of the stem cell factor Sall4 in mice by TCre caused tail truncation and a disorganized axial skeleton posterior to the lumbar level. Based on this phenotype, we hypothesized that, in addition to the previously reported role of Sall4 in neuromesodermal progenitors, Sall4 is involved in the development of the paraxial mesoderm tissue. Analysis of gene expression and SALL4 binding suggests that Sall4 directly or indirectly regulates genes involved in presomitic mesoderm differentiation, somite formation and somite differentiation. Furthermore, ATAC-seq in TCre; Sall4 mutant posterior trunk mesoderm shows that Sall4 knockout reduces chromatin accessibility. We found that Sall4-dependent open chromatin status drives activation and repression of WNT signaling activators and repressors, respectively, to promote WNT signaling. Moreover, footprinting analysis of ATAC-seq data suggests that Sall4-dependent chromatin accessibility facilitates CTCF binding, which contributes to the repression of neural genes within the mesoderm. This study unveils multiple mechanisms by which Sall4 regulates paraxial mesoderm development by directing activation of mesodermal genes and repression of neural genes.

Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) exposure inhibits the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), mesoderm differentiation, and cardiovascular development in early chicken embryos.

Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) is an organophosphorus flame retardant used worldwide and has been detected in the tissues and eggs of wild birds. Our previous study reported that exposure to TCEP induced developmental delay and cardiovascular dysfunction with attenuated heart rate and vasculogenesis in early chicken embryos. This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the cardiovascular effects of TCEP on chicken embryos using cardiac transcriptome analysis and to examine whether TCEP exposure affects epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesoderm differentiation during gastrulation. Transcriptome analysis revealed that TCEP exposure decreased the expression of cardiac conduction-related genes and transcription factors on day 5 of incubation. In extraembryonic blood vessels, the expression levels of genes related to fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were significantly reduced by TCEP exposure and vasculogenesis was suppressed. TCEP exposure also attenuated Snail family transcriptional repressor 2 (SNAI2) and T-box transcription factor T (TBXT) signaling in the chicken primitive streak, indicating that TCEP inhibits EMT and mesoderm differentiation during gastrulation at the early developmental stage. These effects on EMT and mesoderm differentiation may be related to subsequent phenotypic defects, including suppression of heart development and blood vessel formation.

TBXT dose sensitivity and the decoupling of nascent mesoderm specification from EMT progression in 2D human gastruloids.

In the nascent mesoderm, TBXT expression must be precisely regulated to ensure that cells exit the primitive streak and pattern the anterior-posterior axis, but how varying dosage informs morphogenesis is not well understood. In this study, we define the transcriptional consequences of TBXT dosage reduction during early human gastrulation using human induced pluripotent stem cell models of gastrulation and mesoderm differentiation. Multi-omic single-nucleus RNA and single-nucleus ATAC sequencing of 2D gastruloids comprising wild-type, TBXT heterozygous or TBXT null human induced pluripotent stem cells reveal that varying TBXT dosage does not compromise the ability of a cell to differentiate into nascent mesoderm, but instead directly influences the temporal progression of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition with wild type transitioning first, followed by TBXT heterozygous and then TBXT null. By differentiating cells into nascent mesoderm in a monolayer format, we further illustrate that TBXT dosage directly impacts the persistence of junctional proteins and cell-cell adhesions. These results demonstrate that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition progression can be decoupled from the acquisition of mesodermal identity in the early gastrula and shed light on the mechanisms underlying human embryogenesis.

Histone lactylation couples cellular metabolism with developmental gene regulatory networks.

Embryonic cells exhibit diverse metabolic states. Recent studies have demonstrated that metabolic reprogramming drives changes in cell identity by affecting gene expression. However, the connection between cellular metabolism and gene expression remains poorly understood. Here we report that glycolysis-regulated histone lactylation couples the metabolic state of embryonic cells with chromatin organization and gene regulatory network (GRN) activation. We found that lactylation marks genomic regions of glycolytic embryonic tissues, like the neural crest (NC) and pre-somitic mesoderm. Histone lactylation occurs in the loci of NC genes as these cells upregulate glycolysis. This process promotes the accessibility of active enhancers and the deployment of the NC GRN. Reducing the deposition of the mark by targeting LDHA/B leads to the downregulation of NC genes and the impairment of cell migration. The deposition of lactyl-CoA on histones at NC enhancers is supported by a mechanism that involves transcription factors SOX9 and YAP/TEAD. These findings define an epigenetic mechanism that integrates cellular metabolism with the GRNs that orchestrate embryonic development.