Abstract
Understanding of the molecular drivers of lineage diversification and tissue patterning during primary germ layer development requires in-depth knowledge of the dynamic molecular trajectories of cell lineages across a series of developmental stages of gastrulation. Through computational modeling, we constructed at single-cell resolution, a spatio-temporal transcriptome of cell populations in the germ-layers of gastrula-stage mouse embryos. This molecular atlas enables the inference of molecular network activity underpinning the specification and differentiation of the germ-layer tissue lineages. Heterogeneity analysis of cellular composition at defined positions in the epiblast revealed progressive diversification of cell types. The single-cell transcriptome revealed an enhanced BMP signaling activity in the right-side mesoderm of late-gastrulation embryo. Perturbation of asymmetric BMP signaling activity at late gastrulation led to randomization of left-right molecular asymmetry in the lateral mesoderm of early-somite-stage embryo. These findings indicate the asymmetric BMP activity during gastrulation may be critical for the symmetry breaking process.