Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: A plant-wide reduction in stem elongation results in compact inflorescence architecture and dwarfing in the gain-of-function mutant of the wheat domestication gene Q. Instead of the inflorescence emerging above the final leaf, severe dwarfing in this mutant causes the developing spike to burst through the leaf sheath. See Research report by Greenwood et al. on p. 1959.
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
Going format-free
Summary: Development has recently announced a new format-free submission policy – making the process of submitting your paper easier. We have also relaxed our length limits to allow you to describe methods in greater detail.
SPOTLIGHTS
An interview with Hiroshi Hamada
Summary: Hiroshi Hamada, director of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, talks about his career in Japan and North America, his fascination with left-right axis determination and his love of Irish music.
Human embryo research and the 14-day rule
Summary: This Spotlight article looks at the origins of the 14-day rule and its application to human stem cell and developmental biology research.
REVIEW
Epithelial cell behaviours during neurosensory organ formation
Summary: This Review discusses the diverse epithelial cell behaviours involved in small neurosensory organ development, using dental placodes, hair follicles, taste buds, lung neuroendocrine cells and lateral line neuromasts as examples.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Escort cells generate a dynamic compartment for germline stem cell differentiation via combined Stat and Erk signalling
Summary: In the Drosophila ovary, germline stem cell differentiation requires dynamic interactions with somatic escort cells. This involves a complex meshwork of escort cell protrusions and is regulated by multiple signalling pathways.
ChIP-seq analysis of genomic binding regions of five major transcription factors highlights a central role for ZIC2 in the mouse epiblast stem cell gene regulatory network
Summary: Surveying the binding profiles of the key transcription factors ZIC2, OTX2, SOX2, POU5F1 and POU3F1 in mouse epiblast stem cells reveals distinct ZIC2-OTX2-centered gene regulation from that in embryonic stem cells.
RESEARCH REPORT
New alleles of the wheat domestication gene Q reveal multiple roles in growth and reproductive development
Highlighted Article: New alleles of a wheat AP2 gene, Q, define new roles for Q in inflorescence architecture, including the formation and structure of grain-producing spikelets. See also Debernardi et al. in this issue.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
microRNA172 plays a crucial role in wheat spike morphogenesis and grain threshability
Highlighted Article: A nucleotide change in the microRNA172 binding site of the AP2 gene Q played a critical role in wheat domestication and the origin of free-threshing modern wheats. See also Greenwood et al. in this issue.
G9a controls placental vascular maturation by activating the Notch Pathway
Highlighted Article: In the mouse placenta, G9a activates Notch signaling and coordinates a global transcriptional switch to promote placental vascular maturation. Its deficiency may underlie human placental disease.
Reduced MAD2 levels dampen the apoptotic response to non-exchange sex chromosomes and lead to sperm aneuploidy
Highlighted Article: In a transgenic mouse model prone to non-exchange X-Y chromosomes, reduced levels of the spindle assembly checkpoint component MAD2 result in a less stringent apoptotic response and elevated sperm aneuploidy.
RARβ2 is required for vertebrate somitogenesis
Summary: Retinoic acid signaling via RARβ2 plays mulitple roles in Xenopus somitogenesis – regulating somite number, size and morphology, and restricting the presomitic mesoderm anterior border.
Lmx1b-targeted cis-regulatory modules involved in limb dorsalization
Summary: Correlating Lmx1b-binding sites with Lmx1b-regulated genes during mouse limb development uncovers cis-regulatory modules and their gene targets involved in limb dorsal-ventral identity.
Negative regulation of endothelin signaling by SIX1 is required for proper maxillary development
Summary: In mouse, SIX1 represses endothelin 1 and induces Jag1 expression in the dorsal mandibular arch. Loss of this signaling leads to partial duplication of the mandible in place of the posterior maxilla.
Regulation of neuromuscular junction organization by Rab2 and its effector ICA69 in Drosophila
Summary: An RNAi screen in Drosophila identifies the BAR-domain protein ICA69 as a regulator of neuromuscular junction organization and glutamate receptor clustering. ICA69 levels are in turn controlled by Rab2.
COUP-TFI mitotically regulates production and migration of dentate granule cells and modulates hippocampal Cxcr4 expression
Summary: Mice mutant for the COUP-TFI transcription factor show severe growth defects in the hippocampal dentate gyrus, due to impaired proliferation, precocious differentiation and abnormal migration of granule cells.
Gain-of-function mutations in Aqp3a influence zebrafish pigment pattern formation through the tissue environment
Summary: Dominant mutations in the water channel Aquaporin 3a cause defective pigment patterning in zebrafish, due at least in part to an effect of the mutant tissue environment on the pigment cells.
Development of the larval lymphatic system in zebrafish
Summary: Generation of a zebrafish transgenic line expressing GFP in lymphatic vessels allows visualization of the developing lymphatic network, demonstrating a stereotyped, stepwise assembly.
Sonic hedgehog regulation of Foxf2 promotes cranial neural crest mesenchyme proliferation and is disrupted in cleft lip morphogenesis
Summary: The sonic hedgehog pathway controls expression of Foxf2 in mouse cranial neural crest mesenchyme, promoting proliferation and upper lip closure. Human FOXF2 polymorphisms are associated with cleft lip.
TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES
Optimized CUBIC protocol for three-dimensional imaging of chicken embryos at single-cell resolution
Summary: The CUBIC tissue-clearing protocol has been optimized to produce translucent immunostained whole chicken embryos and embryo brains, improving imaging quality for confocal and light-sheet microscopy.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN OUR OTHER 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.