Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Drosophila pupal ovary consisting of a cluster of developing ovarioles. Germline cysts stained with anti-Vasa (green) sit atop basal stalks stained with anti-FasIII (red). The basal stalks form by cell intercalation and participate in structuring the adult germarium. See Research article by Vlachos et al. on p. 82.
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
Looking inwards: opening a window onto human development
Summary: Development Editors announce a new focus on human developmental biology and discuss how they hope to support this expanding field.
SPOTLIGHTS
Ethical considerations in chimera research
Summary: The use of human tissue, particularly in the generation of chimeric animals, throws up important ethical considerations that scientists and policy-makers must consider.
From naïve pluripotency to chimeras: a new ethical challenge?
Summary: The ability to create chimeric animal models using naïve human pluripotent stem cells is now on the horizon. Should we be concerned about using such chimeric animals?
Mouse and human blastocyst-derived stem cells: vive les differences
Summary: Early human and mouse embryos exhibit significant differences in their development, reflected in the properties of stem cell lines derived from these embryos.
Modeling human lung development and disease using pluripotent stem cells
Summary: Successful disease therapy often requires an in-depth knowledge of basic developmental biology, not only through study of model organisms but crucially also of human tissue.
MEETING REVIEW
On human development: lessons from stem cell systems
Summary: A recent Company of Biologists Workshop brought together a diverse group of scientists with a common interest in understanding human development.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Myocardin-related transcription factors control the motility of epicardium-derived cells and the maturation of coronary vessels
Highlighted article: Myocardin-related transcription factors respond to TGFβ signalling and control both the motility of mouse epicardium-derived progenitors and the maturation of coronary vessels.
Mga is essential for the survival of pluripotent cells during peri-implantation development
Highlighted article: The T-box/bHLH-zipper transcription factor Mga controls cell survival in pluripotent cells of the mouse embryo and in embryonic stem cells by regulating polyamine pools.
Bmi1 regulates murine intestinal stem cell proliferation and self-renewal downstream of Notch
Summary: The polycomb complex protein Bmi1 is regulated by Notch and is required to maintain stem cell function in the mouse intestine.
Doublecortin marks a new population of transiently amplifying muscle progenitor cells and is required for myofiber maturation during skeletal muscle regeneration
Summary: The microtubule-associated protein doublecortin is expressed in a sub-population of Pax7+MyoD- muscle progenitors and modulates cell motility during muscle regeneration in mice.
The centrosome orientation checkpoint is germline stem cell specific and operates prior to the spindle assembly checkpoint in Drosophila testis
Summary: The centrosome orientation checkpoint acts in Drosophila germline stem cells but not their progeny to ensure oriented cell division independent of the spindle assembly checkpoint.
Geminin deletion increases the number of fetal hematopoietic stem cells by affecting the expression of key transcription factors
Summary: Geminin recruits epigenetic regulators to modulate the expression of hematopoietic multipotency genes and the production of stem/progenitor cells in the fetal hematopoietic system.
A Pak-regulated cell intercalation event leading to a novel radial cell polarity is involved in positioning of the follicle stem cell niche in the Drosophila ovary
Summary: Actomyosin contractility drives cell intercalation to shape the basal stalk in the Drosophila ovary, which in turn controls ovary architecture.
RESEARCH REPORT
Rho kinase activity controls directional cell movements during primitive streak formation in the rabbit embryo
Summary: ROCK regulates cell motility, polarisation, intercalation and division in gastrulating rabbit embryos, revealing a role for Wnt-PCP signalling in primitive streak formation.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Vangl2 cooperates with Rab11 and Myosin V to regulate apical constriction during vertebrate gastrulation
Highlighted article: The PCP component Vangl2 regulates Rab11-dependent trafficking to control apical constriction during Xenopus gastrulation, highlighting a new role for PCP signalling.
Ezh2 represses the basal cell lineage during lung endoderm development
Highlighted article: The polycomb component Ezh2 regulates the temporal and spatial patterning of the lung, acting to control the phenotypic switch between basal and secretory cells.
Chd1 is essential for the high transcriptional output and rapid growth of the mouse epiblast
Highlighted article: The chromatin remodeler Chd1 promotes a global increase in transcriptional output by both RNA polymerase I and II that sustains the rapid growth of the mouse epiblast.
The non-canonical BMP and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways orchestrate early tooth development
Summary: The direct binding of Noggin to Wnt modulates non-canonical BMP and Wnt/β-catenin signalling to regulate cell proliferation and cell fate during early tooth development.
Thalamic afferents influence cortical progenitors via ephrin A5-EphA4 interactions
Summary: Eph/ephrin signalling between thalamic axons and cortical progenitors regulates neurogenesis the mouse cortex, providing evidence for extra-cortical control of this process.
Arabidopsis AIP1-2 restricted by WER-mediated patterning modulates planar polarity
Summary: Planar polarity in Arabidopsis is shaped by ACTIN-INTERACTING PROTEIN1-2, which is under the control of WEREWOLF-dependent patterning and ethylene signalling.
Coordinate control of terminal dendrite patterning and dynamics by the membrane protein Raw
Summary: In Drosophila sensory neurons, the membrane protein Raw regulates terminal dendrite adhesion via Tricornered kinase and dendrite elongation via cytoskeletal remodelling and Ago1.
The Rac1 regulator ELMO controls basal body migration and docking in multiciliated cells through interaction with Ezrin
Summary: An Ezrin/ELMO/DOCK180/Rac1 complex regulates the cortical actin web in zebrafish and Xenopus multicilliated cells thereby controlling basal body migration, docking and spacing.
Molecular dissection of segment formation in the developing hindbrain
Summary: Positional information provided by different patterning mechanisms is integrated via two cis-acting elements to regulate Krox20 expression in the mouse hindbrain.
Enthesis fibrocartilage cells originate from a population of Hedgehog-responsive cells modulated by the loading environment
Summary: The formation of a functional mineralized tendon enthesis, which links tendons to bones, involves Hedgehog-responsive cells and is modulated by muscle loading.
Dose-dependent nuclear β-catenin response segregates endomesoderm along the sea star primary axis
Summary: A spatiotemporal gradient of Wnt signaling, which is known to pattern early vertebrate embryos, regulates the segregation of cell fate in the invertebrate sea star embryo.
Nesprins anchor kinesin-1 motors to the nucleus to drive nuclear distribution in muscle cells
Summary: Nuclear positioning in developing skeletal muscle cells is dependent on interactions between kinesin light chains and nesprins, which localize kinesin to the nuclear envelope.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN OTHER COB JOURNALS
From Journal of Cell Science
Call for papers: Uncovering Developmental Diversity
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue: Uncovering Developmental Diversity. This issue will be coordinated by our academic Editor Cassandra Extavour (Harvard University, USA) alongside two Guest Editors: Liam Dolan (Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology, Austria) and Karen Sears (University of California Los Angeles, USA).
Choose Development in 2024
In this Editorial, Development Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown explain how you support your community by publishing in Development and how the journal champions serious science, community connections and progressive publishing.
Journal Meeting: From Stem Cells to Human Development
Register now for the 2024 Development Journal Meeting From Stem Cells to Human Development. Early-bird registration deadline: 3 May. Abstract submission deadline: 21 June.
Pluripotency of a founding field: rebranding developmental biology
This collaborative Perspective, the result of a workshop held in 2023, proposes a set of community actions to increase the visibility of the developmental biology field. The authors make recommendations for new funding streams, frameworks for collaborations and mechanisms by which members of the community can promote themselves and their research.
Read & Publish Open Access publishing: what authors say
We have had great feedback from authors who have benefitted from our Read & Publish agreement with their institution and have been able to publish Open Access with us without paying an APC. Read what they had to say.