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A cell lineage is the developmental history of a differentiated cell as traced back to the cell from which it arises. The cells of some organisms, such as C. elegans, have invariant lineages between individuals, whereas vertebrate cell lineage patterns are more variable.
The evolution of the vertebrate head mesoderm involved the emergence of new structures and cell types. Here the authors generated a cell atlas of the cephalochordate neurula to study the origins of these novelties and propose a revised scenario for the evolution of the vertebrate head muscles.
Lack of trabeculation compromises heart structure and function. How myocardial trabeculation is regulated by nonmyocytes is poorly understood. Researchers found that histone deacetylase 3 in the developing endocardial cells guides myocardial trabeculation by inducing growth signals.
MAPK-driven tumorigenesis is often related to epithelial dedifferentiation but the regulatory mechanism is less clear. Here, the authors show that MAPK activation upregulates USP15 to promote deubiquitylation and stability of TBX3, a transcription factor implicated in thyroid development and differentiation, driving tumorigenesis in a BRAFV600E thyroid tumor model.
This study analyzes the embryonic replacement of maternally contributed mRNA with new mRNA in single cells and shows dynamic spatio-temporal regulation of maternal mRNA decay and cell-type specific retention within the earliest specified cell types in zebrafish embryos.
A complex Nuclear Receptor Element (cNRE) of 32 base pairs that emerged from a viral infection drives the quail Slow Myosin Heavy Chain III (SMyHC III) promoter preferential expression to the atria.
Arteries are vital blood vessels for our body and their growth and patterning are critical for proper blood flow. Here they use a retina model to show that a balance of EphB4 receptor and ephrin-B2 ligand integrate a well-wired molecular network to control arteriovenous patterning and vascular growth.
Cheng, Mittnenzweig et al. demonstrate the cellular role of the major DNA demethylation machinery, ten-eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenases, in early mammalian development.
A recent study reports the development of Stereo-seq (spatial enhanced resolution omics-sequencing) and its application to generate a spatiotemporal transcriptomic atlas of mouse organogenesis.
Facchinello, Astone et al. demonstrate a role for the endothelial oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (oxPPP) in promoting vascular mural cell coverage and maturation during early development by regulating elastin expression. This mechanism establishes a critical role for oxPPP in the formation of the vascular system.
A study in Nature Genetics applies whole-genome sequencing to monozygotic twins, their parents, partners and offspring to identify and characterize early developmental mutations, as well as the fate of mutated cells.
A recent study combines CRISPR-based perturbation with single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the roles of epigenome regulator proteins in controlling cell fate and identity during embryonic development.
A study in Science describes the generation of a lineage-resolved single-cell transcriptome atlas for Caenorhabditis elegans embryos. This resource provides insight into the transcriptional changes underlying cell fate decisions.