Nephron progenitor commitment is a stochastic process influenced by cell migration.

Kidney development depends on a balance of nephron progenitor self-renewal and commitment. Here we examine how cells shift from a motile progenitor state to a static committed state during nephrogenesis. Cells that express Wnt4, an early marker of commitment, give rise to both the nephron lineage and a migrating sub-population that may re-enter the progenitor pool. Single cell transcriptional profiling reveals Wnt4-lineage cells across a range of transcriptional states, including cells that return to an uninduced progenitor state. Single cell RNA-seq from Wnt4 expressing cells of E15.5 embryonic kidneys