PhD Student Guangzhou National Laboratory, Guangdong, China (People's Republic)
Abstract: The gut endoderm forms the foundation of the respiratory and digestive systems, including the lung. Recent studies have shown that during mouse early development the gut endoderm has a dual origin, deriving from both the definitive endoderm and the embryonic visceral endoderm (emVE) of mouse gastrula. However, the contribution of emVE cells and the molecular mechanisms underpinning their gut endoderm integration remain poorly understood. Here, we employed deep single-cell transcriptomic profiling and spatial transcriptomics to construct the spatiotemporal distributions and molecular transitions of emVE cells during gastrulation. Our findings reveal that a spatially defined subset of emVE cells undergoes molecular transition, significantly contributing to the formation of the gut endoderm. Notably, we identified several key transcription factors that govern this transition and play a critical role in determining emVE cell fate during gut endoderm specification. These insights deepen our understanding of the molecular events driving gut endodermal patterning and provide a framework for exploring stem cell-based regenerative strategies in gut tissue engineering.
