Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Sep 13;56(17):2405-2418.
doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.08.012. Epub 2021 Sep 13.

Establishment of the vertebrate body plan: Rethinking gastrulation through stem cell models of early embryogenesis

Affiliations
Free article
Review

Establishment of the vertebrate body plan: Rethinking gastrulation through stem cell models of early embryogenesis

Benjamin Steventon et al. Dev Cell. .
Free article

Abstract

A striking property of vertebrate embryos is the emergence of a conserved body plan across a wide range of organisms through the process of gastrulation. As the body plan unfolds, gene regulatory networks (GRNs) and multicellular interactions (cell regulatory networks, CRNs) combine to generate a conserved set of morphogenetic events that lead to the phylotypic stage. Interrogation of these multilevel interactions requires manipulation of the mechanical environment, which is difficult in vivo. We review recent studies of stem cell models of early embryogenesis from different species showing that, independent of species origin, cells in culture form similar structures. The main difference between embryos and in vitro models is the boundary conditions of the multicellular ensembles. We discuss these observations and suggest that the mechanical and geometric boundary conditions of different embryos before gastrulation hide a morphogenetic ground state that is revealed in the stem-cell-based models of embryo development.

Keywords: evolution; gastrulation; gastruloids; hourglass; stem cell models.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources