Title: Gene expression across mammalian organ development

Author: Margarida Cardoso-Moreira, Jean Halbert, Delphine Valloton, Britta Velten, Chunyan Chen, Yi Shao, Anglica Liechti, Kelly Asceno, Coralie Rummel, Svetlana Ovchinnikova, Pavel V. Mazin, Ioannis Xenarios, Keith Harshman, Matthew Mort, David N. Cooper, Carmen Sandi, Michael J. Soares, Paula G. Ferreira, Sandra Afonso, Miguel Carneiro, James M. A. Turner, John L. VandeBerg, Amir Fallahshahroudi, Per Jensen, Rdiger Behr, Steven Lisgo, Susan Lindsay, Philipp Khaitovich, Wolfgang Huber, Julie Baker, Simon Anders,Yong E. Zhang, Henrik Kaessmann 

Issue&Volume: Volume 571 Issue 7766

Abstract: The evolution of gene expression in mammalian organ development remains largely uncharacterized. Here we report the transcriptomes of seven organs (cerebrum, cerebellum, heart, kidney, liver, ovary and testis) across developmental time points from early organogenesis to adulthood for human, rhesus macaque, mouse, rat, rabbit, opossum and chicken. Comparisons of gene expression patterns identified correspondences of developmental stages across species, and differences in the timing of key events during the development of the gonads. We found that the breadth of gene expression and the extent of purifying selection gradually decrease during development, whereas the amount of positive selection and expression of new genes increase. We identified differences in the temporal trajectories of expression of individual genes across species, with brain tissues showing the smallest percentage of trajectory changes, and the liver and testis showing the largest. Our work provides a resource of developmental transcriptomes of seven organs across seven species, and comparative analyses that characterize the development and evolution of mammalian organs.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1338-5

Source:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1338-5