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Review
. 2019 Dec:61:110-116.
doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2019.07.012. Epub 2019 Aug 30.

Mesoderm specification and diversification: from single cells to emergent tissues

Elisabetta Ferretti  1 , Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis  2
Affiliations
Review

Mesoderm specification and diversification: from single cells to emergent tissues

Elisabetta Ferretti et al. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2019 Dec.

Abstract

The three germ layers - mesoderm, endoderm and ectoderm - constituting the cellular blueprint for the tissues and organs that will form during embryonic development, are specified at gastrulation. Cells of mesodermal origin are the most abundant in the human body, representing a great variety of cell types, including the musculoskeletal system (bone, cartilage and muscle), cardiovascular system (heart, blood and blood vessels), as well as the connective tissues found throughout our bodies. A long-standing question pertains how this panoply of mesodermal cell types arises in a stereotypical fashion in time and space. This review discusses the events associated with mesoderm specification, highlighting the reconstruction of putative developmental trajectories facilitated by recent single-cell 'omic' data. We will also discuss the potential of emergent organoid systems to emulate and interrogate the dynamics of lineage specification at cellular resolution.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

Nothing declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Organization of the mouse gastrula stage embryo and regional specification of distinct cell types at the primitive streak.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interconnecting embryos, single-cell RNAseq data, in silico (predictive) trajectories reconstructed from the single-cell RNAseq data, which in turn can be validated experimentally and spatially mapped back onto an embryo.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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