Gastruloids: a PSC model for mammalian gastrulation and body plan engineering

When pluripotent stem cells are aggregated under defined culture conditions they form structures that mimic the outcome of gastrulation. These structures, called gastruloids, exhibit an orthogonal coordinate system that serves as a reference for the spatial organization of derivatives of the three germ layers and the primordia of tissues and organs. Gastruloids have revealed a modular organization in the molecular organization of the mammalian body plan that might have played a role in its evolution.