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Gastrulation

Gastrulation

Gastrulation establishes the three primary tissues of an embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. This developmental process relies on a series of intricate cellular movements, which in humans transforms a flat, “bilaminar disc” composed of two cell sheets into a three-tiered structure. In the resulting embryo, the endoderm serves as the bottom layer, and stacked directly above it is the intermediate mesoderm, and then the uppermost ectoderm. Respectively, these tissue strata...

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After a large-single-celled zygote is produced via fertilization, the process of cleavage occurs while zygotes travel through the uterine tube. Cleavage is a mitotic cell division that does not result in growth. With each round of successive cell division, daughter cells get increasingly smaller.

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The development of all multicellular organisms starts with the fusion of haploid cells called sperm and egg to form a diploid zygote. A zygote is a totipotent cell that can develop into a complete organism. The zygote undergoes cell division or cleavage to form an 8-cell mass. Until this stage, the cells are spherical, loosely attached, and remain totipotent. Totipotent cells are capable of developing both the embryonic and the extraembryonic tissues. However, as they continue to divide, they...

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Author Spotlight: A Pipeline to Analyze Lineage-Specific Mutant Embryos at Single-Cell Resolution

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Single-cell transcriptomic characterization of a gastrulating human embryo.

Richard C V Tyser¹, Elmir Mahammadov^2,3,4, Shota Nakanoh⁵

¹Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

|November 18, 2021

Summary

Researchers mapped the gene activity of an entire human embryo during gastrulation. This study reveals early human development and identifies key cell types, offering insights for future research.

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Area of Science:

Developmental Biology
Human Embryology
Genomics

Background:

Gastrulation establishes the fundamental body plan in multicellular animals.
Human gastrulation (week 3 post-fertilization) is poorly understood due to limited direct observation.
Previous studies relied on historical specimens, animal models, or in vitro cultures.

Purpose of the Study:

To spatially resolve the single-cell transcriptional profile of a gastrulating human embryo.
To identify cell types present during this critical developmental window.
To compare findings with existing model systems.

Main Methods:

Single-cell RNA sequencing of an entire human embryo (16-19 days post-fertilization).
Spatially resolved transcriptional profiling.
Comparative analysis with other developmental models.

Main Results:

Detailed transcriptional landscape of a gastrulating human embryo.
Identification of pluripotent epiblast, primordial germ cells, red blood cells, and mesodermal/endodermal lineages.
Provides a reference dataset for early human development.

Conclusions:

Offers a unique, high-resolution view of human gastrulation.
Provides context for interpreting data from other model systems.
Serves as a resource for guiding in vitro human cell differentiation.