title: Uncovering the Number and Clonal Dynamics of Mesp1 Progenitors during Heart Morphogenesis.
abstract: The heart arises from distinct sources of cardiac progenitors that independently express Mesp1 during gastrulation. The precise number of Mesp1 progenitors that are specified during the early stage of gastrulation, and their clonal behavior during heart morphogenesis, is currently unknown. Here, we used clonal and mosaic tracing of Mesp1-expressing cells combined with quantitative biophysical analysis of the clonal data to define the number of cardiac progenitors and their mode of growth during heart development. Our data indicate that the myocardial layer of the heart derive from ∼250 Mesp1-expressing cardiac progenitors born during gastrulation. Despite arising at different time points and contributing to different heart regions, the temporally distinct cardiac progenitors present very similar clonal dynamics. These results provide insights into the number of cardiac progenitors and their mode of growth and open up avenues to decipher the clonal dynamics of progenitors in other organs and tissues.
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRIBHM, Brussels 1070, Belgium.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chabab
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRIBHM, Brussels 1070, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lescroart
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK; The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rulands
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRIBHM, Brussels 1070, Belgium.
authors.forename: Navrita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mathiah
authors.affiliation: Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK; The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QN, UK; Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK. Electronic address: bds10@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Benjamin D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Simons
authors.affiliation: Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRIBHM, Brussels 1070, Belgium; WELBIO, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels 1070, Belgium. Electronic address: cedric.blanpain@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blanpain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology*; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; C101538:Mesp1 protein, mouse