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The heart develops from 2 sources of mesoderm progenitors, the first and second heart field (FHF and SHF). Using a single-cell transcriptomic assay combined with genetic lineage tracing and live imaging, we find the FHF and SHF are subdivided into distinct pools of progenitors in gastrulating mouse embryos at earlier stages than previously thought. Each subpopulation has a distinct origin in the primitive streak. The first progenitors to leave the primitive streak contribute to the left ventricle, shortly after right ventricle progenitor emigrate, followed by the outflow tract and atrial progenitors. Moreover, a subset of atrial progenitors are gradually incorporated in posterior locations of the FHF. Although cells allocated to the outflow tract and atrium leave the primitive streak at a similar stage, they arise from different regions. Outflow tract cells originate from distal locations in the primitive streak while atrial progenitors are positioned more proximally. Moreover, single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrates that the primitive streak cells contributing to the ventricles have a distinct molecular signature from those forming the outflow tract and atrium. We conclude that cardiac progenitors are prepatterned within the primitive streak and this prefigures their allocation to distinct anatomical structures of the heart. Together, our data provide a new molecular and spatial map of mammalian cardiac progenitors that will support future studies of heart development, function, and disease.

Measurements on embryonic epithelial tissues in a diverse range of organisms have shown that the statistics of cell neighbor numbers are universal in tissues where cell proliferation is the primary cell activity. Highly simplified non-spatial models of proliferation are claimed to accurately reproduce these statistics. Using a systematic critical analysis, we show that non-spatial models are not capable of robustly describing the universal statistics observed in proliferating epithelia, indicating strong spatial correlations between cells. Furthermore we show that spatial simulations using the Subcellular Element Model are able to robustly reproduce the universal histogram. In addition these simulations are able to unify ostensibly divergent experimental data in the literature. We also analyze cell neighbor statistics in early stages of chick embryo development in which cell behaviors other than proliferation are important. We find from experimental observation that cell neighbor statistics in the primitive streak region, where cell motility and ingression are also important, show a much broader distribution. A non-spatial Markov process model provides excellent agreement with this broader histogram indicating that cells in the primitive streak may have significantly weaker spatial correlations. These findings show that cell neighbor statistics provide a potentially useful signature of collective cell behavior.

Breaking the anterior–posterior symmetry in mammals occurs at gastrulation. Much of the signalling network underlying this process has been elucidated in the mouse; however, there is no direct molecular evidence of events driving axis formation in humans. Here, we use human embryonic stem cells to generate an in vitro three-dimensional model of a human epiblast whose size, cell polarity and gene expression are similar to a day 10 human epiblast. A defined dose of BMP4 spontaneously breaks axial symmetry, and induces markers of the primitive streak and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. We show that WNT signalling and its inhibitor DKK1 play key roles in this process downstream of BMP4. Our work demonstrates that a model human epiblast can break axial symmetry despite the absence of asymmetry in the initial signal and of extra-embryonic tissues or maternal cues. Our three-dimensional model is an assay for the molecular events underlying human axial symmetry breaking. Simunovic et al. use human embryonic stem cells to generate a three-dimensional model of a human pre-gastrulation epiblast and show that anterior–posterior symmetry breaking can be induced by BMP4 and WNT signalling.

In birds and mammals, the formation of the primitive streak, the hallmark of the primary axis and site of gastrulation, is thought to occur when the anterior displacement of the hypoblast (visceral endoderm in mice) lifts its inhibition on NODAL signaling in the posterior epiblast. Although the anterior movement of the murine visceral endoderm is well documented, the dynamics of the avian hypoblast remain poorly understood. Using live imaging and quantitative analyses, we find that the hypoblast is mechanically coupled to the epiblast and does not migrate away from its posterior end. Instead, the hypoblast mostly moves and deforms passively through forces that shape the primitive streak, transmitted from the epiblast. We further show that the posterior hypoblast does not inhibit the epiblast but instead expresses NODAL , which activates primitive streak formation and concomitantly patterns the hypoblast along the anteroposterior axis. Our results thus redefine the cellular and molecular mechanisms establishing the avian primary axis, demonstrating that the hypoblast motion and anteroposterior patterning are consequences rather than drivers of primitive streak induction, downstream of NODAL signaling. Here they show that the hypoblast does not inhibit primitive streak induction in bird embryos. Instead, NODAL signaling in the hypoblast activates streak formation, and hypoblast movement is a consequence rather than a cause of axis induction.

The establishment of the vertebrate body plan is orchestrated by the organizer, a specialized group of cells with inductive properties that guide axial specification during early development. In avian embryos, organizer cells reside within Hensen’s node, a transient structure located at the tip of the primitive streak. Despite its pivotal role during gastrulation, the cellular architecture of the Hensen’s node remains poorly understood. Here, we show that Hensen’s node is composed of two transcriptionally and functionally distinct organizer populations. In addition to anterior GSC -expressing cells associated with head induction, we identify a posterior population co-expressing organizer and mesodermal genes. These posterior cells exhibit trunk-inducing activity when transplanted into naïve tissue. Our findings reveal that the organizer is a dynamic and spatially compartmentalized structure, and that temporal changes in the relative abundance of anterior and posterior populations underlie shifts in its inductive capacity, ensuring coordinated patterning along the body axis. The organizer is a signaling center in the embryo that orchestrates the formation of body axes. Here they show that Hensen’s Node contains two main cell types and that changes in their abundance alter its ability to induce head versus trunk structures.

Tissue morphogenesis is driven by local cellular deformations that are powered by contractile actomyosin networks. How localized forces are transmitted across tissues to shape them at a mesoscopic scale is still unclear. Analyzing gastrulation in entire avian embryos, we show that it is driven by the graded contraction of a large-scale supracellular actomyosin ring at the margin between the embryonic and extraembryonic territories. The propagation of these forces is enabled by a fluid-like response of the epithelial embryonic disk, which depends on cell division. A simple model of fluid motion entrained by a tensile ring quantitatively captures the vortex-like “polonaise” movements that accompany the formation of the primitive streak. The geometry of the early embryo thus arises from the transmission of active forces generated along its boundary.

Owing to technical and ethical limitations, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying primate gastrulation are far from clear (see the Perspective by Tam). Two independent studies used an in vitro culture system to study cynomolgus monkey embryo postimplantation development up to and beyond gastrulation (day 9 to day 20). Niu et al. observed in vivo morphogenetic events and used single-cell RNA sequencing and single-cell chromatin accessibility to study the distinct cell lineages in developing embryos. Ma et al. also observed that key events of in vivo early development were recapitulated in their system, and single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed molecular signatures of postimplantation cell types. These systems will help elucidate the dynamics and regulation of gastrulation in primates, including possible relevance to human development. Science , this issue p. eaaw5754 , p. eaax7890 ; see also p. 798 A platform that can explore the characteristics and mechanisms of early postimplantation embryogenesis in nonhuman primates is described. The transition from peri-implantation to gastrulation in mammals entails the specification and organization of the lineage progenitors into a body plan. Technical and ethical challenges have limited understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie this transition. We established a culture system that enabled the development of cynomolgus monkey embryos in vitro for up to 20 days. Cultured embryos underwent key primate developmental stages, including lineage segregation, bilaminar disc formation, amniotic and yolk sac cavitation, and primordial germ cell–like cell (PGCLC) differentiation. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed development trajectories of primitive endoderm, trophectoderm, epiblast lineages, and PGCLCs. Analysis of single-cell chromatin accessibility identified transcription factors specifying each cell type. Our results reveal critical developmental events and complex molecular mechanisms underlying nonhuman primate embryogenesis in the early postimplantation period, with possible relevance to human development.

It is generally accepted that epiblast cells ingress into the primitive streak by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) to give rise to the mesoderm; however, it is less clear how the endoderm acquires an epithelial fate. Here, we used embryonic stem cell and mouse embryo knock‐in reporter systems to combine time-resolved lineage labelling with high-resolution single-cell transcriptomics. This allowed us to resolve the morphogenetic programs that segregate the mesoderm from the endoderm germ layer. Strikingly, while the mesoderm is formed by classical EMT, the endoderm is formed independent of the key EMT transcription factor Snail1 by mechanisms of epithelial cell plasticity. Importantly, forkhead box transcription factor A2 (Foxa2) acts as an epithelial gatekeeper and EMT suppressor to shield the endoderm from undergoing a mesenchymal transition. Altogether, these results not only establish the morphogenetic details of germ layer formation, but also have broader implications for stem cell differentiation and cancer metastasis. Scheibner et al. demonstrate that, during gastrulation in the mouse, epithelial epiblast progenitors upregulate Foxa2 and form the definitive endoderm independently of a full EMT–MET cycle.

In vertebrates, the readily apparent left/right (L/R) anatomical asymmetries of the internal organs can be traced to molecular events initiated at or near the time of gastrulation. However, the earliest steps of this process do not seem to be universally conserved. In particular, how this axis is first defined in chicks has remained problematic. Here we show that asymmetric cell rearrangements take place within chick embryos, creating a leftward movement of cells around the node. It is the relative displacement of cells expressing sonic hedgehog (Shh) and fibroblast growth factor 8 (Fgf8) that is responsible for estasblishing their asymmetric expression patterns. The creation of asymmetric expression domains as a passive effect of cell movements represents an alternative strategy for breaking L/R symmetry in gene activity.

In warm-blooded vertebrate embryos (mammals and birds), the axial tissues of the body form from a growth zone at the tail end, Hensen’s node, which generates neural, mesodermal, and endodermal structures along the midline. While most cells only pass through this region, the node has been suggested to contain a small population of resident stem cells. However, it is unknown whether the rest of the node constitutes an instructive niche that specifies this self-renewal behavior. Here, we use heterotopic transplantation of groups and single cells and show that cells not destined to enter the node can become resident and self-renew. Long-term resident cells are restricted to the posterior part of the node and single-cell RNA-sequencing reveals that the majority of these resident cells preferentially express G2/M phase cell-cycle–related genes. These results provide strong evidence that the node functions as a niche to maintain self-renewal of axial progenitors.