The overall scope of this new series will be to evolve an understanding of the genetic basis of (1) how early mesoderm commits to cells of a heart lineage that progres sively and irreversibly assemble into a segmented, primary heart tube that can be remodeled into a four-chambered organ, and (2) how blood vessels are derived and assembled both in the heart and in the body. Our central aim is to establish a four-dimensional, spatiotemporal foundation for the heart and blood vessels that can be genetically dissected for function and mechanism. Since Robert DeHaan's seminal chapter...