They create a mouse with a gene from a very ancient single-celled organism

Madrid. A gene present in a single-celled organism related to animals has been used to create stem cells used to give rise to a living, breathing mouse.

This preview, published in Nature Communicationsredefines our understanding of the genetic origins of stem cells, offering a new perspective on the evolutionary links between animals and their ancient single-celled relatives, according to the authors.

Dr Alex de Mendoza, from Queen Mary University of London, and colleagues from the University of Hong Kong based their research on a gene found in choanoflagellates, the animals’ closest living relatives, whose genomes contain versions of the Sox genes. and POU, known to drive pluripotency (the cellular potential to become any type of cell) within mammalian stem cells. This unexpected discovery challenges a long-held belief that these genes evolved exclusively within animals.

By successfully creating a mouse using molecular tools derived from our single-celled relatives, we are witnessing an extraordinary continuity of function over nearly a billion years of evolution.stated De Mendoza. The study implies that key genes involved in the formation of stem cells could have originated long before them, perhaps helping to pave the way for the multicellular life we ​​see today.he added in a statement.

The 2012 Nobel Prize awarded to Shinya Yamanaka demonstrated that it is possible to obtain stem cells from cells differentiated simply expressing four factors, including the Sox (Sox2) and POU (Oct4) genes. In this new research, the team introduced Sox genes from choanoflagellates into mouse cells, replacing the native Sox2, achieving reprogramming towards the pluripotent stem cell state. To validate the effectiveness of these reprogrammed cells, they were injected into a developing mouse embryo. The resulting chimeric rodent showed physical traits of both the donor embryo and the lab-induced stem cells, such as black hair spots and dark eyes, confirming that these ancient genes played a crucial role in making the stem cells compatible with the embryo. development of the animal.

The study traces how early versions of the Sox and POU proteins, which bind to DNA and regulate other genes, were used by single-celled ancestors for functions that would later become integral to stem cell formation and animal development. “Choanoflagellates do not have stem cells, they are single-celled organisms, but they do have these genes, probably to control basic cellular processes that multicellular animals probably reused later to build complex bodies,” De Mendoza explained.

This new discovery emphasizes the evolutionary versatility of genetic tools and offers insight into how early life forms might have harnessed similar mechanisms to drive cellular specialization, long before true multicellular organisms emerged, and into the importance of recycling in the evolution.

This discovery has implications beyond evolutionary biology, and could inform new advances in regenerative medicine. By deepening our understanding of how stem cell machinery evolved, scientists can identify new ways to optimize stem cell therapies and improve cell reprogramming techniques to treat diseases or repair damaged tissue.

Studying the ancient roots of these genetic tools allows us to innovate with a clearer vision of how pluripotency mechanisms can be adjusted or optimized.explained Dr. Jauch, noting that advances could emerge from experimentation with synthetic versions of these genes that could work even better than those from native animals in certain contexts.