A tale of two tracts: mapping human reproductive development with single-cell and spatial genomics

The human reproductive tract arises from shared embryonic precursor structures that undergo sex-specific differentiation and rostro-caudal patterning to form distinct organs. 

Despite extensive insights from model organisms, the cellular and molecular basis of these processes in humans has remained largely unresolved. 

By integrating single-cell transcriptomics, chromatin accessibility profiling, and spatial genomics across developing human samples, we reconstructed differentiation trajectories and continuous spatial gradients to resolve the emergence, regression, and axial regionalisation of the Müllerian and Wolffian ducts at single-cell resolution. 

This work identifies candidate regulators of sexual differentiation and organ patterning, and establishes a generalisable framework for mapping developmental gradients in complex human tissues.