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Updated: Oct 5, 2025

De Novo Generation of Somatic Stem Cells by YAP/TAZ
Published on: May 7, 2018
YAP1 regulates the self-organized fate patterning of hESC-derived gastruloids
Eleonora Stronati1, Servando Giraldez2, Ling Huang3
1Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Center for Translational Medicine, Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract:
The gastrulation process relies on complex interactions between developmental signaling pathways that are not completely understood. Here, we interrogated the contribution of the Hippo signaling effector YAP1 to the formation of the three germ layers by analyzing human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived 2D-micropatterned gastruloids. YAP1 knockout gastruloids display a reduced ectoderm layer and enlarged mesoderm and endoderm layers compared with wild type. Furthermore, our epigenome and transcriptome analysis revealed that YAP1 attenuates Nodal signaling by directly repressing the chromatin accessibility and transcription of key genes in the Nodal pathway, including the NODAL and FOXH1 genes. Hence, in the absence of YAP1, hyperactive Nodal signaling retains SMAD2/3 in the nuclei, impeding ectoderm differentiation of hESCs. Thus, our work revealed that YAP1 is a master regulator of Nodal signaling, essential for instructing germ layer fate patterning in human gastruloids.
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