Biology subjects

Sanchez Moreno, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Sanchez Moreno, C..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Subcellular compartmentalization expands the regulatory repertoire of a conserved developmental network

How can a conserved network orchestrate precise local outcomes across a wide array of developmental and ecological contexts during evolution? Flexible subcellular compartmentalization of multivalent proteins is a powerful, but understudied, driver of dynamic modularity in regulatory networks, defining an architecture in which context-sensing bridges between distributed subnetworks allow simultaneous access to alternative regulatory states. Here we construct one of the most complete atlases of avian beak morphogenesis and examine how subcellular compartmentalization modulates regulatory repertoire of the conserved protein network across hundreds of developmental contexts. We find that, in both jaws, the network is comprised of a hub of autoregulatory, context-sensing proteins whose links to a context-invariant core depends on subcellular colocalization. We show that proteins in this hub more than double the networks regulatory repertoire by unlocking latent coexpression states allowing concurrent tissue divergence. We demonstrate that in this architecture, specialization does not interfere with changeability, enabling a compact network to achieve remarkable tissue diversification and developmental expansion. The regulatory autonomy of the hub proteins and their ability to convert a wide range of inputs underpin robustness of developmental systems. Ultimately, such organization can reconcile ecological precision with the evolutionary lability evident in avian beak diversification.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Transient epithelial mimicry reconciles stemness and regional specification in neural crest cells of avian beaks

Multicellular morphogenesis must balance organismal cohesion with local tissue differentiation. Migratory stem cells commonly fulfill these dual needs by orchestrating region-specific tissue differentiation, yet how they balance the maintenance of stemness with positional sensitivity is unclear. Here, we show that in the developing avian beak, early arriving neural crest-derived mesenchymal (NCM) cells transiently match protein profiles of the overlying epithelium, which diverges as development proceeds. This "local mimicry" phase propagates region-specific epithelial signaling into the mesenchyme, producing distinct boundaries that anchor mesenchymal cell condensations. As NCM cells accumulate, cells within condensations undergo morphological and molecular homogenization, erasing regional differences in protein expression and restoring cellular multipotency. These cycles of transient specialization and homogenization - driven by universal processes of cell proliferation and migration - enable NCM cells to reconcile location-specific anchoring signals with stemness needed for ongoing regional specification of growing beak. By balancing global coordination with local divergence, this developmental organization can facilitate the remarkable evolutionary diversification of avian beaks.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2025

Ultimate paths of least resistance: Intrinsically disordered links as developmental resets in regulatory protein networks

Development and evolution require both stability and adaptability, yet how these opposite properties are reconciled is unclear. Here, we show that intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) act as reset mechanisms in conserved regulatory networks facilitating developmental transitions by integrating physical processes with genetic regulation. By tracing the ontogeny of mesenchymal cells in avian beak primordia, we demonstrate that mechanosensitive IDPs mediate shifts between physical cell states via dosage-dependent binding plasticity, converting stochastic protein variation into discreet regulatory networks. The disorder-enabled connectivity in these proteins resets their regulatory specialization and promotes population divergence. Comparative analyses across avian proteomes confirm that binding plasticity in transcriptional IDPs drives their diverse regulatory associations and accelerates their evolution. By resetting specialized states in conserved regulatory networks, IDPs flexibly regulate developmental pathways and reconcile precision with evolvability.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

FInCH: FIJI plugin for automated and scalable whole-image analysis of protein expression and cell morphology

Study of morphogenesis and its regulation requires analytical tools that enable simultaneous assessment of processes operating at cellular level, such as synthesis of transcription factors (TF), with their effects at the tissue scale. Most current studies conduct histological, cellular and immunochemical (IHC) analyses in separate steps, introducing inevitable biases in finding and alignment of areas of interest at vastly distinct scales of organization, as well as image distortion associated with image repositioning or file modifications. These problems are particularly severe for longitudinal analyses of growing structures that change size and shape. Here we introduce a python-based application for automated and complete whole-slide measurement of expression of multiple TFs and associated cellular morphology. The plugin collects data at customizable scale from the cell-level to the entire structure, records each data point with positional information, accounts for ontogenetic transformation of structures and variation in slide positioning with scalable grid, and includes a customizable file manager that outputs collected data in association with full details of image classification (e.g., ontogenetic stage, population, IHC assay). We demonstrate the utility and accuracy of this application by automated measurement of morphology and associated expression of eight TFs for more than six million cells recorded with full positional information in beak tissues across 12 developmental stages and 25 study populations of a wild passerine bird. Our script is freely available as an open-source Fiji plugin and can be applied to IHC slides from any imaging platforms and transcriptional factors. Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=83 SRC="FIGDIR/small/590413v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (42K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@162f9borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@8f9544org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@90c99aorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1a3aa0f_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG Specifications table O_TBL View this table: org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f1e48eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1d432eaorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@5aa5b0org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@133ebf3org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1c7a130_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_TBL C_TBL

developmental biology↗