A molecular circuit integrates environmental cues to coordinate the exit from developmental dormancy
- 1The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Abstract
Diapause is a reversible dormancy state that enables organisms to survive extreme environments. In annual killifishes, embryos use diapause to bridge seasonal drought, but how environmental cues are integrated to trigger exit remains unclear. Here, we combine model-based single-embryo transcriptomics with cross-clade small-molecule screening to define the molecular logic of diapause exit. In the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), high-resolution profiling uncovered a temporal transcriptional cascade, while transcriptomic-clock analysis revealed reduced transcriptional noise during developmental reactivation. Transcriptome-guided drug-enrichment analysis nominated overlapping compounds across two annual killifish clades, leading to a targeted chemical screen that identified shared activators and inhibitors of diapause exit. Functional assays support a model in which HSP90 integrates temperature-dependent cues with steroid-hormone signaling. Together, these findings reveal shared molecular machinery that couples environmental sensing to developmental timing, aligns diapause exit with favorable conditions, and provides a powerful comparative framework for dissecting vertebrate dormancy control.
Related
- A blastema in sea star larvae integrates wound signaling to drive regeneration-specific and developmental gene expression patterns.
- TFL1 homolog integrates temperature signals to control timing of developmental transitions in woodland strawberry
- DECIPHER integrates disentangled representation learning and prototype-based cell-type deconvolution across molecular modalities
- Environmental risk reshapes high-confidence schizophrenia risk genes during a developmental window of vulnerability
- Strength of developmental carry-over varies continuously with environmental conditions in a wild bird population
BibTeX
@misc{dor2026molecular,
title = {{A molecular circuit integrates environmental cues to coordinate the exit from developmental dormancy}},
author = {O. Ben Dor and I. Rozenberg and T. Atlan and E. Davis and M. Bergman and A. Oron-Gottesman and T. Argaman and W. Sandt and D. H. Meyer and Y. Rapoport and M. Tawil and B. Schumacher and J. Podrabsky and M. Rabani and I. Harel},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.24.760914},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.24.760914v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A molecular circuit integrates environmental cues to coordinate the exit from developmental dormancy
AU - O. Ben Dor
AU - I. Rozenberg
AU - T. Atlan
AU - E. Davis
AU - M. Bergman
AU - A. Oron-Gottesman
AU - T. Argaman
AU - W. Sandt
AU - D. H. Meyer
AU - Y. Rapoport
AU - M. Tawil
AU - B. Schumacher
AU - J. Podrabsky
AU - M. Rabani
AU - I. Harel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/24
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.24.760914
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.24.760914v1
AB - Diapause is a reversible dormancy state that enables organisms to survive extreme environments. In annual killifishes, embryos use diapause to bridge seasonal drought, but how environmental cues are integrated to trigger exit remains unclear. Here, we combine model-based single-embryo transcriptomics with cross-clade small-molecule screening to define the molecular logic of diapause exit. In the African turquoise killifish (Nothobranchius furzeri), high-resolution profiling uncovered a temporal transcriptional cascade, while transcriptomic-clock analysis revealed reduced transcriptional noise during developmental reactivation. Transcriptome-guided drug-enrichment analysis nominated overlapping compounds across two annual killifish clades, leading to a targeted chemical screen that identified shared activators and inhibitors of diapause exit. Functional assays support a model in which HSP90 integrates temperature-dependent cues with steroid-hormone signaling. Together, these findings reveal shared molecular machinery that couples environmental sensing to developmental timing, aligns diapause exit with favorable conditions, and provides a powerful comparative framework for dissecting vertebrate dormancy control.
ER -