{
  "abstract": "Developmental transcription factors often have overlapping functions, making it difficult to define the distinct roles of individual factors during lineage specification. We investigated the partially redundant transcription factors TBX-35 and CEH-51 in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryonic MS mesodermal lineage using 4D lineage tracing, reporter imaging, genetics, and single-cell RNA sequencing. In tbx-35 mutants, MS descendants showed progressively slower cell cycles and a division pattern that increasingly resembled the cousin C lineage. Fate-regulator expression also shifted toward C-like features, including ectopic pal-1 and expanded HLH-1 expression, although mutant cells did not simply adopt normal C-lineage positions. Loss of tbx-35 also impaired a later MS-dependent Notch induction in the AB lineage while leaving an earlier induction intact. CEH-51 showed a different pattern of activity whereby its protein became enriched in anterior MS daughters, and ceh-51 mutants produced later, more restricted lineage defects that were strongest in descendants of cells with higher CEH-51 levels. Single-cell profiling identified overlapping but nonidentical sets of genes dependent on the two factors. TBX-35-dependent changes were strongest at earlier stages, whereas CEH-51-dependent genes became more prominent later and were enriched in anterior MS sublineages. Finally, temperature-shift experiments determined that the severity and onset of tbx-35 mutant phenotypes depend on the maternal temperature environment and cannot be explained by differences in residual CEH-51 expression. These findings reveal that TBX-35 and CEH-51 contribute differently across the MS lineage and that reliable mesoderm development is supported by overlapping zygotic and maternal regulatory inputs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Y. Gan"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. L. Marble"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Preston"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Jiang"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. I. Murray"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "P. Sivaramakrishnan"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e219vt9zkedvr.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.01.748736",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748736v1.full",
  "id": "e219vt9zkedvr",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748736v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "developmental biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7207855392",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748736v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e219vt9zkedvr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:18:46Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.01.748736",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748736v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:developmental biology",
      "subfield": "developmental-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Distinct roles for partially redundant transcription factors in Caenorhabditis elegans mesoderm lineage development",
  "title_text": "Distinct roles for partially redundant transcription factors in Caenorhabditis elegans mesoderm lineage development",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:18:46Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e219vt9zkedvr",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}