Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: The stereocilia bundles are apical extensions of the sensory cells of the inner ear (hair cells), here labelled with phalloidin in a newborn mouse utricle. The development and survival of the hair cells requires the transcription factor GFI1, which functions to repress a neuronal-associated gene expression profile. See Research report by Matern et al. (dev186015).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEWS
REVIEWS
Establishing the pattern of the vertebrate limb
Summary: This Review covers several interconnected aspects of limb development, from the positioning of the limb fields, to how gene expression is translated into morphology.
Orchestrating morphogenesis: building the body plan by cell shape changes and movements
Summary: Current understanding of three key cell behaviors central to embryonic development – apical constriction, convergent extension and collective cell migration – are reviewed, with a focus on Drosophila, a powerful model for studying these events.
The pulse of morphogenesis: actomyosin dynamics and regulation in epithelia
Summary: Actomyosin networks direct morphogenesis through contractile pulses or the formation of supracellular cables. This Review summarizes the mechanics of network assembly, and provides insights into cell ratcheting, force transmission and pulsatility.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Cytotrophoblast extracellular vesicles enhance decidual cell secretion of immune modulators via TNFα
Highlighted Article: This study identifies human placental extracellular vesicles as a form of intercellular communication between the embryo/fetus and the mother that enhance uterine production of immune-related molecules.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Delta-like ligand 4-mediated Notch signaling controls proliferation of second heart field progenitor cells by regulating Fgf8 expression
Summary: Dll4-mediated Notch signaling ensures an adequate pool of second heart field progenitors during heart development by maintaining levels of key proteins, such as Fgf8.
RESEARCH REPORTS
An autoregulatory switch in sex-specific phf7 transcription causes loss of sexual identity and tumors in the Drosophila female germline
Summary: Genetic and genomic approaches reveal that when misexpressed in female germ cells, the testis-specific PHF7 protein acts as an oncogene with transcriptional reprogramming activity that inappropriately activates male germ cell genes.
GFI1 functions to repress neuronal gene expression in the developing inner ear hair cells
Summary: GFI1 serves a dual function in hair cell maturation, by both promoting hair cell gene expression and repressing a neuronal-associated transcriptional profile that is expressed during early development.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Pinhead signaling regulates mesoderm heterogeneity via the FGF receptor-dependent pathway
Summary: Xenopus Pinhead is a secreted cystine-knot protein that functions in a positive feedback loop with FGF to activate Erk signaling and induce mesoderm.
Effective range of non-cell autonomous activator and inhibitor peptides specifying plant stomatal patterning
Highlighted Article: Non-cell autonomous effects of activator and inhibitor peptides on 2D spatial patterning of stomata were quantitatively characterized using chimeric sectors and a SPACE computational pipeline.
Erk and MAPK signaling is essential for intestinal development through Wnt pathway modulation
Summary: Erk/MAPK signaling plays a crucial role during intestinal development through modulation of the Wnt signaling pathway by both cell-autonomous and non-autonomous mechanisms.
TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES
A single cell RNA sequencing resource for early sea urchin development
Summary: We leverage the sea urchin embryo for its rich history of developmental transitions, its well-established gene regulatory network and the ability to readily dissociate embryos into single cells to interrogate the embryo by single-cell RNA sequencing.
CORRECTION
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.