Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40360834›Full record

ArticleThe EMBO journal2025

Early coordination of cell migration and cardiac fate determination during mammalian gastrulation.

Shayma Abukar, Peter A Embacher, Alessandro Ciccarelli, Sunita Varsani-Brown, Isabel G W North, Jamie A Dean, James Briscoe, Kenzo Ivanovitch

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The EMBO journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Beyond Binary: Cardiac Patterning as Probabilistic Fate Restriction.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Coordination of cardiogenesis in vivo and in vitro.Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shayma AbukarDevelopmental Biology and Cancer Department, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0547-2539
Peter A EmbacherDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Alessandro CiccarelliThe Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7612-8161
Sunita Varsani-BrownThe Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7223-5998
Isabel G W NorthDevelopmental Biology and Cancer Department, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.
Jamie A DeanDepartment of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5434-8032
James BriscoeThe Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1020-5240
Kenzo IvanovitchDevelopmental Biology and Cancer Department, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK. k.ivanovitch@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4706-7686

Funding

British Heart Foundation (BHF) FS/4yPhD/F/22/34181British Heart Foundation (BHF) FS/IBSRF/21/25085Cancer Research UK (CRUK) C7893/A28990Wellcome Trust FC001051
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

During gastrulation, mesodermal cells derived from distinct regions are destined to acquire specific cardiac fates after undergoing complex migratory movements. Here, we used light-sheet imaging of live mouse embryos between gastrulation and heart tube formation to track mesodermal cells and to reconstruct lineage trees and 3D migration paths for up to five cell divisions. We found independent progenitors emerging at specific times, contributing exclusively to left ventricle/atrioventricular canal (LV/AVC) or atrial myocytes. LV/AVC progenitors differentiated early to form the cardiac crescent, while atrial progenitors later generated the heart tube's Nr2f2+ inflow tract during morphogenesis. We also identified short-lived multipotent progenitors with broad potential, illustrating early developmental plasticity. Descendants of multipotent progenitors displayed greater dispersion and more diverse migratory trajectories within the anterior mesoderm than the progeny of uni-fated progenitors. Progenitors contributing to extraembryonic mesoderm (ExEm) exhibited the fastest and most dispersed migrations. In contrast, those giving rise to endocardial, LV/AVC, and pericardial cells showed a more gradual divergence, with late-stage behavioural shifts: endocardial cells increased in speed, while pericardial cells slowed down in comparison to LV/AVC cells. Together, these data reveal patterns of individual cell directionality and cardiac fate allocation within the seemingly unorganised migratory pattern of mesoderm cells.

Indexed as

Cell MovementGastrulationHeartMyocytes, CardiacAnimalsCell DifferentiationCell LineageEmbryo, MammalianMesodermMiceCardiac ProgenitorsGastrulationHeart FieldsLight Sheet MicroscopyLive imaging

Identifiers

PMID40360834
PMCPMC12170898

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.