Spatial transcriptomics reveals a role for sensory nerves in preserving cranial suture patency through modulation of BMP/TGF-β signaling

Significance Sensory nerves innervate bone and are required for normal skeletal development, but the molecular mechanisms through which nerves exert these essential functions have remained obscure. Here, we validate a spatial transcriptomics platform, which allowed us to map changes in the molecular landscape across the developing cranium of mice in which sensory nerve innervation is genetically blocked. We show that sensory, nerve-derived signals, including follistatin-like 1, coordinate cranial bone patterning by regulating the proliferation and differentiation of bone precursor cells within the suture mesenchyme.