ArticleNature ecology & evolution2022
An ancestral Wnt-Brachyury feedback loop in axial patterning and recruitment of mesoderm-determining target genes.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- A blastoporal organizer in a ctenophore.Nature · 2026Article
- Notch coordinates self-organization of germ layers and axial polarity in sea anemone gastruloids.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The notochord: development, disease and stem cell-based modelling.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Review
- Evolutionary rewiring of the endomesoderm gene regulatory networks specify skeleton secreting cells in stony corals.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The evolutionary foundations of transcriptional regulation in animals.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2025Review
- Kidney organoids in translational research: disease modeling, drug discovery, and unresolved challenges.Cell and tissue research · 2025Review
- Molecular evidence from xenacoelomorph gonopore formation supports homology with the bilaterian anus.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Article
- A model for boundary-driven tissue morphogenesis.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Segregation of endoderm and mesoderm germ layer identities in the diploblast Nematostella vectensis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Deep homology of aScience advances · 2025Article
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- Evolutionary origin of the chordate nervous system revealed by amphioxus developmental trajectories.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- TheBiomedicines · 2024Article
- Analysis of SMAD1/5 target genes in a sea anemone reveals ZSWIM4-6 as a novel BMP signaling modulator.eLife · 2024Article
- Gene Regulatory Network that Shaped the Evolution of Larval Apical Organ in Cnidaria.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Topological structures and syntenic conservation in sea anemone genomes.Nature communications · 2023Article
- The evolutionary history of Brachyury genes in Hydrozoa involves duplications, divergence, and neofunctionalization.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mesoderm induction and patterning: Insights from neuromesodermal progenitors.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Transcription factors are crucial drivers of cellular differentiation during animal development and often share ancient evolutionary origins. The T-box transcription factor Brachyury plays a pivotal role as an early mesoderm determinant and neural repressor in vertebrates; yet, the ancestral function and key evolutionary transitions of the role of this transcription factor remain obscure. Here, we present a genome-wide target-gene screen using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, an early branching non-bilaterian, and the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, a representative of the sister lineage of chordates. Our analysis reveals an ancestral gene regulatory feedback loop connecting Brachyury, FoxA and canonical Wnt signalling involved in axial patterning that predates the cnidarian-bilaterian split about 700 million years ago. Surprisingly, we also found that part of the gene regulatory network controlling the fate of neuromesodermal progenitors in vertebrates was already present in the common ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians. However, while several endodermal and neuronal Brachyury target genes are ancestrally shared, hardly any of the key mesodermal downstream targets in vertebrates are found in the sea anemone or the sea urchin. Our study suggests that a limited number of target genes involved in mesoderm formation were newly acquired in the vertebrate lineage, leading to a dramatic shift in the function of this ancestral developmental regulator.
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