A single-cell time-lapse of mouse prenatal development from gastrula to birth. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38355799/)

These scientists studied how a tiny mouse grows from just one cell into a fully-formed baby mouse. They looked at 83 mouse embryos at different stages of development, from when they were just a few days old to the moment they were born.

To do this, the scientists used a special method called single-cell combinatorial indexing to analyze the genes that were active in each cell. By studying over 12 million cells, they were able to identify different types of cells in the mouse embryos, such as those that make up the kidney, eyes, and brain.

The scientists created a detailed map showing how different types of cells develop and change over time, from the very beginning when the mouse is just a fertilized egg to when it is born. They also identified specific genes that play important roles in controlling how cells grow and change during development.

One interesting finding was that the biggest changes in cell activity happened right before the baby mouse was born, which suggests that the mouse's body goes through a lot of important changes in order to be ready to live outside of its mother's womb.

Qiu C., Martin BK., Welsh IC., Daza RM., Le TM., Huang X., Nichols EK., Taylor ML., Fulton O., O'Day DR., Gomes AR., Ilcisin S., Srivatsan S., Deng X., Disteche CM., Noble WS., Hamazaki N., Moens CB., Kimelman D., Cao J., Schier AF., Spielmann M., Murray SA., Trapnell C., Shendure J. A single-cell time-lapse of mouse prenatal development from gastrula to birth. Nature. 2024 Feb 14. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07069-w.