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Vertebrate Cell Differentiation, Evolution, and Diseases: The Vertebrate-Specific Developmental Potential Guardians

Bertrand Ducos1,2,3, David Bensimon1,2,4, Pierluigi Scerbo1,2

  • 1LPENS, PSL, CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.

Cells
|July 27, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Vertebrate-specific Developmental Potential Guardians (vsDPGs) regulate embryonic pluripotency, cell fate decisions, and development. These factors also play a role in cancer stem cell advantage and therapeutic resistance.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cellular and Molecular Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Cancer Biology

Background:

  • Embryonic development involves transitory pluripotent states: refractory/naïve and competent/formative pluripotency.
  • Molecular mechanisms governing pluripotency and lineage commitment are evolutionarily conserved.
  • Vertebrate-specific Developmental Potential Guardians (vsDPGs) are key regulators in these processes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To summarize the role of vsDPGs in vertebrate development, evolution, and carcinogenesis.
  • To provide a holistic view of vsDPGs as facilitators of cell plasticity and morphological innovation.
  • To explore the impact of vsDPG heterogeneity on cellular potential and features.

Main Methods:

  • Review and synthesis of existing findings on vsDPGs (VENTX/NANOG, POU5/OCT4) and MEK1.
  • Analysis of vsDPG involvement in neurulation, neural crest cell (NCC) formation, and neuro-mesodermal progenitor cells (NMPs).
  • Examination of the role of vsDPGs in cancer stem cells (CSCs) and therapeutic resistance.

Main Results:

  • vsDPGs, with MEK1, coordinate the pluripotency continuum, lineage commitment, and morphogenesis.
  • vsDPGs drive endogenous reprogramming, empowering ectodermal cells for NCC formation during neurulation.
  • vsDPGs are expressed in NMPs involved in posterior axis elongation and confer advantages to CSCs.

Conclusions:

  • vsDPGs are crucial for cell plasticity, adaptability, and morphological innovation in vertebrates.
  • Dysregulation of vsDPGs contributes to carcinogenesis by enabling cancer cells to evade physiological constraints.
  • Heterogeneous vsDPG distribution influences cellular potential, features, and evolutionary advantage.

Keywords:
POU5/OCT4VENTX/NANOGcancercompetencedevelopmental potentialheterogeneityneural crest cellspluripotent stem cellsvertebrate evolution

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