Cell atlases and the developmental foundations of the phenotype.

ABSTRACT: It is widely acknowledged that development shapes phenotypes, yet the extent to which genes with similar expression patterns during development lead to equivalent organismal phenotypes when mutated remains unclear. Here, we propose addressing this issue, which we term the [Formula: see text]evelopment-to-[Formula: see text]henotype, or [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text], rule, by leveraging single-cell gene expression atlases and phenotypic ontologies, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system. This framework quantifies the proportionality between developmental expression and phenotypic similarities, demonstrating that the relationship holds on average. Genes that strongly fulfill the rule exhibit broad "housekeeping" expression and are associated with systemic phenotypes, wherea

SUBMITTER: Lou A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12904592 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature