Metabolism dictates the pace of development across species

Sonnen, Katharina

doi:10.1038/d41586-022-04483-w

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04 January 2023

Metabolism dictates the pace of development across species

Mouse and human embryos undergo similar developmental steps, but the exact timings differ. An analysis reveals that differences in metabolic activity set the timing of one such step on the road to formation of the vertebrae.

Katharina Sonnen⁰

Katharina Sonnen
1. Katharina Sonnen is at the Hubrecht Institute, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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Vertebrate embryos go through developmental stages during which different species are very similar to one another morphologically, before each diverges towards its own body plan. Each species passes through these stages of similarity at a characteristic rate, which scales roughly with body size¹. Similarly, for many species, the rate of metabolism also scales with body size². Writing in Nature, Diaz-Cuadros et al.³ bring these two phenomena together to reveal how the pace of development is determined.

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Nature 613, 439-440 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04483-w

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