BEIJING -- Chinese scientists have completed a genetic study of the human fetal digestive tract that will assist in diagnosis and treatment of digestive-tract complaints such as gastrointestinal (GI) cancer.

Research mapped the genes of 5,277 individual cells and identified 40 cell types in organs from human embryos, as well as the large intestine of adults.

The research supported by the China National Natural Science Foundation was carried out by the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics (ICG), the Biodynamic Optical Imaging Center and the Third Hospital of Peking University, and published in the latest issue of Nature Cell Biology.

Tang Fuchou, deputy director of ICG and member of the research team, told Xinhua that it was the first time that scientists had systematically studied the development paths and gene expressions of the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine and large intestine in both embryonic and adult stages.

Founded in 2016 in Peking University, ICG is sponsored by the Beijing government.