Neuromesodermal specification during head-to-tail body axis formation.

The anterior-to-posterior (head-to-tail) body axis is extraordinarily diverse among vertebrates but conserved within species. Body axis development requires a population of axial progenitors that resides at the posterior of the embryo to sustain elongation and is then eliminated once axis extension is complete. These progenitors occupy distinct domains in the posterior (tail-end) of the embryo and contribute to various lineages along the body axis. The subset of axial progenitors with neuromesodermal competency will generate both the neural tube (the precursor of the spinal cord), and the trunk and tail somites (producing the musculoskeleton) during embryo development. These axial progenitors are called Neuromesodermal Competent cells (NMCs) and Neuromesodermal Progenitors (NMPs). NMCs/NMPs have recently attracted interest beyond the field of developmental biology due to their clinical potential. In the mouse, the maintenance of neuromesodermal competency relies on a fine balance between a trio of known signals: Wnt/β-catenin, FGF signalling activity and suppression of retinoic acid signalling. These signals regulate the relative expression levels of the mesodermal transcription factor Brachyury and the neural transcription factor Sox2, permitting the maintenance of progenitor identity when co-expressed, and either mesoderm or neural lineage commitment when the balance is tilted towards either Brachyury or Sox2, respectively. Despite important advances in understanding key genes and cellular behaviours involved in these fate decisions, how the balance between mesodermal and neural fates is achieved remains largely unknown. In this chapter, we provide an overview of signalling and gene regulatory networks in NMCs/NMPs. We discuss mutant phenotypes associated with axial defects, hinting at the potential significant role of lesser studied proteins in the maintenance and differentiation of the progenitors that fuel axial elongation.

Martins-Costa C ，Wilson V ，Binagui-Casas A 《-》

Sall4 regulates neuromesodermal progenitors and their descendants during body elongation in mouse embryos.

Bi-potential neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs) produce both neural and paraxial mesodermal progenitors in the trunk and tail during vertebrate body elongation. We show that Sall4, a pluripotency-related transcription factor gene, has multiple roles in regulating NMPs and their descendants in post-gastrulation mouse embryos. Sall4 deletion using TCre caused body/tail truncation, reminiscent of early depletion of NMPs, suggesting a role of Sall4 in NMP maintenance. This phenotype became significant at the time of the trunk-to-tail transition, suggesting that Sall4 maintenance of NMPs enables tail formation. Sall4 mutants exhibit expanded neural and reduced mesodermal tissues, indicating a role of Sall4 in NMP differentiation balance. Mechanistically, we show that Sall4 promotion of WNT/β-catenin signaling contributes to NMP maintenance and differentiation balance. RNA-Seq and SALL4 ChIP-Seq analyses support the notion that Sall4 regulates both mesodermal and neural development. Furthermore, in the mesodermal compartment, genes regulating presomitic mesoderm differentiation are downregulated in Sall4 mutants. In the neural compartment, we show that differentiation of NMPs towards post-mitotic neuron is accelerated in Sall4 mutants. Our results collectively provide evidence supporting the role of Sall4 in regulating NMPs and their descendants.

Tahara N ，Kawakami H ，Chen KQ ，Anderson A ，Yamashita Peterson M ，Gong W ，Shah P ，Hayashi S ，Nishinakamura R ，Nakagawa Y ，Garry DJ ，Kawakami Y ... -  《-》

Lineage tracing of neuromesodermal progenitors reveals novel Wnt-dependent roles in trunk progenitor cell maintenance and differentiation.

In the development of the vertebrate body plan, Wnt3a is thought to promote the formation of paraxial mesodermal progenitors (PMPs) of the trunk region while suppressing neural specification. Recent lineage-tracing experiments have demonstrated that these trunk neural progenitors and PMPs derive from a common multipotent progenitor called the neuromesodermal progenitor (NMP). NMPs are known to reside in the anterior primitive streak (PS) region; however, the extent to which NMPs populate the PS and contribute to the vertebrate body plan, and the precise role that Wnt3a plays in regulating NMP self-renewal and differentiation are unclear. To address this, we used cell-specific markers (Sox2 and T) and tamoxifen-induced Cre recombinase-based lineage tracing to locate putative NMPs in vivo. We provide functional evidence for NMP location primarily in the epithelial PS, and to a lesser degree in the ingressed PS. Lineage-tracing studies in Wnt3a/β-catenin signaling pathway mutants provide genetic evidence that trunk progenitors normally fated to enter the mesodermal germ layer can be redirected towards the neural lineage. These data, combined with previous PS lineage-tracing studies, support a model that epithelial anterior PS cells are Sox2(+)T(+) multipotent NMPs and form the bulk of neural progenitors and PMPs of the posterior trunk region. Finally, we find that Wnt3a/β-catenin signaling directs trunk progenitors towards PMP fates; however, our data also suggest that Wnt3a positively supports a progenitor state for both mesodermal and neural progenitors.

Garriock RJ ，Chalamalasetty RB ，Kennedy MW ，Canizales LC ，Lewandoski M ，Yamaguchi TP ... -  《-》

Dynamics of primitive streak regression controls the fate of neuromesodermal progenitors in the chicken embryo.

In classical descriptions of vertebrate development, the segregation of the three embryonic germ layers completes by the end of gastrulation. Body formation then proceeds in a head to tail fashion by progressive deposition of lineage-committed progenitors during regression of the primitive streak (PS) and tail bud (TB). The identification by retrospective clonal analysis of a population of neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs) contributing to both musculoskeletal precursors (paraxial mesoderm) and spinal cord during axis formation challenged these notions. However, classical fate mapping studies of the PS region in amniotes have so far failed to provide direct evidence for such bipotential cells at the single-cell level. Here, using lineage tracing and single-cell RNA sequencing in the chicken embryo, we identify a resident cell population of the anterior PS epiblast, which contributes to neural and mesodermal lineages in trunk and tail. These cells initially behave as monopotent progenitors as classically described and only acquire a bipotential fate later, in more posterior regions. We show that NMPs exhibit a conserved transcriptomic signature during axis elongation but lose their epithelial characteristicsin the TB. Posterior to anterior gradients of convergence speed and ingression along the PS lead to asymmetric exhaustion of PS mesodermal precursor territories. Through limited ingression and increased proliferation, NMPs are maintained and amplified as a cell population which constitute the main progenitors in the TB. Together, our studies provide a novel understanding of the PS and TB contribution through the NMPs to the formation of the body of amniote embryos.

Guillot C ，Djeffal Y ，Michaut A ，Rabe B ，Pourquié O ... -  《eLife》

In vitro generation of neuromesodermal progenitors reveals distinct roles for wnt signalling in the specification of spinal cord and paraxial mesoderm identity.

Gouti M ，Tsakiridis A ，Wymeersch FJ ，Huang Y ，Kleinjung J ，Wilson V ，Briscoe J ... -  《-》