Rewrite Developmental trajectory and evolutionary origin of thymic mimetic cells as a headline for a science magazine post, using no more than 7 words

In mice, AIRE-mediated peripheral antigen expression by thymic epithelial cells22, the activity of Fezf2 in mTECs23, and the presence of mimetic cells2 in the thymic microenvironment non-redundantly contribute to the formation of a self-tolerant T cell repertoire. The Aire gene is found only in the genomes of jawed vertebrates48 and is not present in jawless vertebrates; by contrast, Fezf2 is a pan-vertebrate-specific gene (a paralogue of the evolutionarily ancient Fezf1 gene49) found in both jawed and jawless vertebrates (Extended Data Fig. 11d). These findings indicate the possibility that Fezf2-driven peripheral self-antigen expression in the thymus might have emerged already in the ancestor common to all vertebrates, before AIRE-specific functions were added in jawed vertebrates. Thus, the tolerogenic capacity of the thymus might have evolved in successive steps, mirrored in the presence or absence of tolerogenic factors and the distinct developmental sequence of mimetic cell types.

In mice, FEZF2 and AIRE regulate only partially overlapping aspects of peripheral antigen expression4,23. Both tolerogenic factors—FEZF2 and AIRE—are required for the differentiation of some mimetic cells2,4. FEZF2 appears to be particularly relevant for the differentiation of the enterohepatic lineage of mimetic TECs4; notably, in mTECs of Fezf2-deficient mice, Ttr, which encodes transthyretin, is the most highly downregulated gene23. The presence of TTR-expressing cells in the thymoid is compatible with the control of intrathymic TTR gene expression by FEZF2 rather than AIRE (which is absent from the lamprey genome). At present, the mechanistic underpinnings of antigen receptor repertoire development in the lamprey T cell lineage50 are largely unexplored, complicating attempts at establishing the functional importance of peripheral antigen expression in the lamprey thymoid. Further work is required to establish the frequency and distribution of cells expressing different peripheral antigens in the gill filaments and to clarify the mechanism by which developing T cells gain access to these antigens. Nonetheless, our results reveal an unexpected similarity in tolerogenic traits between the two sister groups of vertebrates. Despite species-specific variations7, the exposure of developing thymocytes to peripheral tissue antigens thus emerges as a general component of vertebrate adaptive immune systems.

Nusser, A., Thomas, O.S., Zhang, G. et al. Developmental trajectory and evolutionary origin of thymic mimetic cells.
Nature (2025).

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bu içeriği en az 2000 kelime olacak şekilde ve alt başlıklar ve madde içermiyecek şekilde ünlü bir science magazine için İngilizce olarak yeniden yaz. Teknik açıklamalar içersin ve viral olacak şekilde İngilizce yaz. Haber dışında başka bir şey içermesin. Haber içerisinde en az 12 paragraf ve her bir paragrafta da en az 50 kelime olsun. Cevapta sadece haber olsun. Ayrıca haberi yazdıktan sonra içerikten yararlanarak aşağıdaki başlıkların bilgisi var ise haberin altında doldur. Eğer bilgi yoksa ilgili kısmı yazma.:

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Nusser, A., Thomas, O.S., Zhang, G. et al. Developmental trajectory and evolutionary origin of thymic mimetic cells.
Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09148-y

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Tags: AIRE gene functiondifferentiation of mimetic cellsFezf2 role in immunityimmune system evolutionjawed vs jawless vertebratesperipheral antigen expressionself-tolerant T cell repertoirethymic epithelial cellsthymic mimetic cell developmentthymus microenvironment dynamicstolerogenic factors in thymusvertebrate evolutionary biology