Antagonistic Activities of Sox2 and Brachyury Control the Fate Choice of Neuro-Mesodermal Progenitors (Developmental Cell)

The mammalian trunk arises from neuro-mesodermal progenitors (NMPs) giving rise to two fundamentally different cell lineages, one forming the spinal cord and the other mesodermal tissues. Analyzing the lineages derived from NMPs, Koch et al. find antagonistic roles for Sox2 and Brachyury in the specification of neural and mesodermal fates.