Issues

Summary: This Hypothesis discusses the relationship between positional information and reaction-diffusion, two fundamental principles governing the arisal of structures and shapes in organisms.

Summary: This Review discusses the molecular and cellular scale mechanisms underlying the diverse roles of the Hox transcription factors during morphogenesis and organogenesis.

Highlighted article: Although classically thought to restrain proliferation, p53 promotes self-renewal in nephron progenitors of the mouse kidney and also regulates their metabolic profile.

Summary: In the muscle stem cell niche, satellite cells are apposed to pericytes which regulate their quiescence and differentiation via angiopoietin 1 and insulin growth factor 1 pathways, respectively.

Highlighted article: Wilms' tumor suppressor 1 (WT1) controls nephron numbers by regulating fibroblast growth factor signaling in nephron progenitors via Gas1, a novel WT1 target gene.

Summary: Mimicking development, production of parvalbumin versus somatostatin cortical interneurons from embryonic stem cells can be controlled just by modulating culture duration and exposure to sonic hedgehog.

Summary: Early chick embryos share previously unappreciated features with anamniote embryos such as the timing of zygotic gene activation and yolk syncytial layer formation.

Summary: During mouse spermatogenesis, the histone variants Th2a and Th2b control histone levels and cohesin release from chromatin, necessary for meiotic progression in germ cells.

Summary: In the chick embryo, retinoic acid signaling controls the invagination of the forebrain roof plate and exerts a negative influence on choroid plexus development.

Summary: The translocation of Torso-like from the eggshell membrane to the oocyte plasma membrane regulates the spatial and temporal control of body plan specification during Drosophila oogenesis.

Highlighted article: In the neuroepithelium, apical cofilin 1 activates actomyosin contractility to promote neural tube closure, while basally it prevents ectopic myosin activation and tight junction formation.

Summary: ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq experiments identify novel molecular mechanisms underlying midbrain dopaminergic neuron production downstream of Foxa1 and Foxa2 during mouse neurogenesis.

Summary: In addition to restricting Notch activation, Lethal (2) giant discs controls egg chamber architecture and germ stem cell formation through BMP/Dpp pathway activation during Drosophila oogenesis.

Summary: Differentiation of Drosophila wrapping glia affects axonal wrapping and blood-brain barrier development through autocrine activation of the EGF receptor, similar to mammalian re-myelination after injury.

Summary: In the Drosophila brain, the fragile X mental retardation protein mediates neuron type-specific and activity-dependent changes in dendritic synaptic connectivity within the learning/memory center.

Summary: BMP signaling levels control p53-mediated apoptosis through SMAD1/5 phosphorylation and MDM2-p53 complex formation in cranial neural crest cells, regulating nasal cartilage morphogenesis.

Summary: An easily-applied MS2 labeling system in zebrafish allows the visualization of RNA localization in germline stem cells and zygotic genome activation in vivo.

Highlighted article: Striatal projection neurons, which degenerate in Huntington's disease, can be generated in vitro using activin A treatment, in a manner independent of sonic hedgehog signalling.