Mother knows best: developmental plasticity during gut development

Our group studies organ formation using a simple organ, the C. elegans foregut (or pharynx), that nonetheless faces the same hurdles that confront organs in more complicated animals. Our main focus is the transcriptional processes that establish the foregut from a pool of developmentally‐plastic precursors. I will discuss two aspects of organogenesis: Pluripotency and cell‐fate acquisition . Early embryonic cells are born pluripotent, but over time their developmental choices become restricted. We study the processes that mediate the transition from developmental plasticity to cell‐fate specification, with a particular focus on the interplay between sequence‐specific transcription factors, chromatin organization and nuclear architecture. Environmental impacts on development . C. elegans worms are acutely aware of their environment and can sense a wide array of chemicals through 32 chemosensory neurons. These chemicals elicit both short‐term responses to modulate feeding or movement, but also longer‐term effects that alter adult longevity or development. Recently, we found a surprising link between chemo‐sensation and foregut development, which I will describe.