The mechanisms underlying kidney development in mice and humans is an area of intense study. Insights into kidney organogenesis have the potential to guide our understanding of the origin of congenital anomalies and enable the assembly of genetic diagnostic tools. A number of studies have delineated signalling nodes that regulate positional identities and cell fates of nephron progenitor and precursor cells, whereas cross-species comparisons have markedly enhanced our understanding of conserved and divergent features of mammalian kidney organogenesis. Greater insights into the complex cellular movements that occur as the proximal–distal axis is established have challenged our understanding of nephron patterning and provided important clues to the elaborate developmental context in which human kidney diseases can arise. Studies of kidney development in vivo have also facilitated efforts to recapitulate nephrogenesis in kidney organoids in vitro, by providing a detailed blueprint of signalling events, cell movements and patterning mechanisms that are required for the formation of correctly patterned nephrons and maturation of physiologically functional apparatus that are responsible for maintaining human health.

小鼠和人类肾脏发育的机制是一个深入研究的领域。对肾脏器官发生的深入了解有可能指导我们了解先天性异常的起源，并使遗传诊断工具的组装成为可能。许多研究已经描述了调节肾单位祖细胞和前体细胞的位置特性和细胞命运的信号节点，而跨物种比较显着增强了我们对哺乳动物肾脏器官发生的保守和不同特征的理解。对近端-远端轴建立时发生的复杂细胞运动的更深入了解挑战了我们对肾单位模式的理解，并为人类肾脏疾病发生的复杂发育背景提供了重要线索。对体内肾脏发育的研究也促进了在体外重现肾类器官肾发生的努力，通过提供信号事件、细胞运动和模式机制的详细蓝图，这些是正确模式肾单位形成和生理功能装置成熟所需的。担负着维护人类健康的责任。