Extended Data Fig. 3: Conservation of cellular communication, transcription factor networks, and gene expression in vertebrate lungs.

a, Co-expression network of 23 conserved lung transcription factors and their partial target genes. This network illustrates the complex regulatory relationships governing lung cell identity and function across species. b, Comparative VEGF signaling networks in Senegal bichir, African lungfish, and mouse lungs, derived from CellChat analysis. Circle sizes indicate cell type proportions, while edge widths represent intercellular communication probabilities. This visualization highlights conserved signaling patterns across evolutionarily distant species. c, Dotplot depicting the expression patterns of lung-specific genes across various mouse tissue cell populations. Rows represent individual genes, columns represent cell types, and color intensity indicates scaled average expression levels.