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Animals display substantial inter-species variation in the rate of embryonic development despite a broad conservation of the overall sequence of developmental events. Differences in biochemical reaction rates, including the rates of protein production and degradation, are thought to be responsible for species-specific rates of development 1 – 3 . However, the cause of differential biochemical reaction rates between species remains unknown. Here, using pluripotent stem cells, we have established an in vitro system that recapitulates the twofold difference in developmental rate between mouse and human embryos. This system provides a quantitative measure of developmental speed as revealed by the period of the segmentation clock, a molecular oscillator associated with the rhythmic production of vertebral precursors. Using this system, we show that mass-specific metabolic rates scale with the developmental rate and are therefore higher in mouse cells than in human cells. Reducing these metabolic rates by inhibiting the electron transport chain slowed down the segmentation clock by impairing the cellular NAD + /NADH redox balance and, further downstream, lowering the global rate of protein synthesis. Conversely, increasing the NAD + /NADH ratio in human cells by overexpression of the Lactobacillus brevis NADH oxidase Lb NOX increased the translation rate and accelerated the segmentation clock. These findings represent a starting point for the manipulation of developmental rate, with multiple translational applications including accelerating the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells for disease modelling and cell-based therapies. An in vitro system that recapitulates temporal characteristics of embryonic development demonstrates that the different rates of mouse and human embryonic development stem from differences in metabolic rates and—further downstream—the global rate of protein synthesis.

Key Points Vertebrate segmentation depends on an oscillator (the segmentation clock) controlling periodic signalling activities of the Notch, WNT and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) pathways, which act on precursors of the somites in the presomitic mesoderm. Spacing of the response to the periodic signal of the clock is controlled by a system of travelling posterior gradients of FGF and WNT signalling. This system leads to the successive determination of embryonic segments along the anteroposterior axis. Although the pacemaker of the oscillator has not been fully characterized, delayed negative-feedback loops have been shown to be involved in the control of oscillations in mouse and zebrafish embryos. Notch signalling is involved in the synchronization of individual cellular oscillators, resulting in coordinated waves travelling along the presomitic mesoderm. Segmental determination occurs in the presomitic mesoderm when segmentation genes such as mesoderm posterior 2 ( MESP2 ) are activated in a striped domain in response to the clock signal. This striped domain specifies the future boundaries of the somite. Somite formation relies on a molecular oscillator, the segmentation clock, which leads to oscillatory gene expression in the presomitic mesoderm; this is converted into the periodic generation of segments in response to signalling gradients referred to as the wavefront. Recent studies provide insights into the molecular mechanisms behind this intricate developmental system. Segmentation of the paraxial mesoderm is a major event of vertebrate development that establishes the metameric patterning of the body axis. This process involves the periodic formation of sequential units, termed somites, from the presomitic mesoderm. Somite formation relies on a molecular oscillator, the segmentation clock, which controls the rhythmic activation of several signalling pathways and leads to the oscillatory expression of a subset of genes in the presomitic mesoderm. The response to the periodic signal of the clock, leading to the establishment of the segmental pre-pattern, is gated by a system of travelling signalling gradients, often referred to as the wavefront. Recent studies have advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the generation of oscillations and how they interact and are coordinated to activate the segmental gene expression programme.

The segmental organization of the vertebral column is established early in embryogenesis, when pairs of somites are rhythmically produced by the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). The tempo of somite formation is controlled by a molecular oscillator known as the segmentation clock 1 , 2 . Although this oscillator has been well-characterized in model organisms 1 , 2 , whether a similar oscillator exists in humans remains unknown. Genetic analyses of patients with severe spine segmentation defects have implicated several human orthologues of cyclic genes that are associated with the mouse segmentation clock, suggesting that this oscillator might be conserved in humans 3 . Here we show that human PSM cells derived in vitro—as well as those of the mouse 4 —recapitulate the oscillations of the segmentation clock. Human PSM cells oscillate with a period two times longer than that of mouse cells (5 h versus 2.5 h), but are similarly regulated by FGF, WNT, Notch and YAP signalling 5 . Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that mouse and human PSM cells in vitro follow a developmental trajectory similar to that of mouse PSM in vivo. Furthermore, we demonstrate that FGF signalling controls the phase and period of oscillations, expanding the role of this pathway beyond its classical interpretation in ‘clock and wavefront’ models 1 . Our work identifying the human segmentation clock represents an important milestone in understanding human developmental biology. Human presomitic mesoderm cells derived in vitro demonstrate oscillations of the segmentation clock, thus providing a window into an otherwise inaccessible stage of human development.

Animals display significant inter-specific variation in the rate of embryonic development despite broad conservation of the overall sequence of developmental events. Differences in biochemical reaction speeds, including the rates of protein production and degradation, are thought to be responsible for distinct species-specific rates of development. However, the cause of differential biochemical reaction speeds between species remains unknown. Using pluripotent stem cells, we have established an in vitro system that recapitulates the two-fold difference in developmental rate between early mouse and human embryos. This system provides a quantitative measure of developmental speed as revealed by the period of the segmentation clock, a molecular oscillator associated with the rhythmic production of vertebral precursors. Using this system, we showed that mass-specific metabolic rates scale with developmental rate and are therefore elevated in mouse cells compared to human cells. We further showed that reducing these metabolic rates by pharmacologically inhibiting the electron transport chain slows down the segmentation clock. The effect of the electron transport chain on the segmentation clock is mediated by the cellular NAD+/NADH redox balance independent of ATP production and, further downstream, by the global rate of protein synthesis. These findings represent a starting point for the manipulation of developmental rate, which would find multiple translational applications including the acceleration of human pluripotent stem cell differentiation for disease modeling and cell-based therapies. Competing Interest Statement O.P. is scientific founder of Anagenesis Biotechnologies. S.R.M. is a co-founder of Travera and Affinity Biosensors, which develop technologies relevant to the research presented in this work.

The vertebral column is characterized by the periodic arrangement of vertebrae along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis. This segmental or metameric organization is established early in embryogenesis when pairs of embryonic segments called somites are rhythmically produced by the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). The tempo of somite formation is controlled by a molecular oscillator known as the segmentation clock. While this oscillator has been well characterized in model organisms whether a similar oscillator exists in humans remains unknown. We have previously shown that human embryonic stem (ES) cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can differentiate in vitro into PSM upon activation of the Wnt signaling pathway combined with BMP inhibition. Here, we show that these human PSM cells exhibit Notch and YAP-dependent oscillations of the cyclic gene HES7 with a 5-hour period. Single cell RNA-sequencing comparison of the differentiating iPS cells with mouse PSM reveals that human PSM cells follow a similar differentiation path and exhibit a remarkably coordinated differentiation sequence. We also demonstrate that FGF signaling controls the phase and period of the oscillator. This contrasts with classical segmentation models such as the Clock and Wavefront where FGF merely implements a signaling threshold specifying where oscillations stop. Overall, our work identifying the human segmentation clock represents an important breakthrough for human developmental biology.

During development, tightly regulated gene expression programs control cell fate and patterning. A key regulatory step in eukaryotic transcription is the assembly of the pre-initiation complex (PIC) at promoters. The PIC assembly has mainly been studied in vitro, and little is known about its composition during development. In vitro data suggests that TFIID is the general transcription factor that nucleates PIC formation at promoters. Here we show that TAF10, a subunit of TFIID and of the transcriptional co-activator SAGA, is required for the assembly of these complexes in the mouse embryo. We performed Taf10 conditional deletions during mesoderm development and show that Taf10 loss in the presomitic mesoderm (PSM) does not prevent cyclic gene transcription or PSM segmental patterning, while lateral plate differentiation is profoundly altered. During this period, global mRNA levels are unchanged in the PSM, with only a minor subset of genes dysregulated. Together, our data demonstrate that the TAF10-containing canonical TFIID and SAGA complexes, are dispensable for early paraxial mesoderm development, arguing against the generic role in transcription proposed for these fully assembled holo complexes.