Issues

Summary: This Spotlight summarizes and discusses single-cell RNA-sequencing studies on mammalian brains, highlighting the remaining gaps and proposing future directions for human brain development research.

Summary: This Review summarizes the formation and function of focal adhesions, highlighting similarities and differences in how these macromolecular assemblies are used in in vitro and in vivo contexts.

Summary: Multi-omics approaches and functional assays reveal global DNA methylome dynamics and an indispensable role of DNA methyltransferase 1 in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell generation through repression of Notch signaling.

Highlighted Article: In zebrafish melanocyte regeneration, quiescent McSCs respond by re-expressing a neural crest identity, followed by an Aldh2-dependent metabolic switch to generate progeny.

Highlighted Article: This study resolves previously unidentified subsets of immature and mature thymic fibroblasts, providing further evidence that their homeostasis is controlled by signals provided by developing thymocytes.

Summary: The mechanical properties of the basement membrane of Drosophila egg chambers are mainly determined by Collagen IV.

Summary: Pen2 is critical for the fate determination of apical progenitors (APs) in the hippocampal neuroepithelium. Pen2 governs the transition of APs to neurons through the γ-secretase/Notch/NeuroD1 pathway.

Summary: GSK3 kinases are required for sperm motility and are part of a sperm-derived signal that triggers the completion of female meiosis after fertilization in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Summary: The interaction between kinases and phosphatases during the DNA damage response, and the regulatory mechanism that exists between the DNA damage checkpoint and the cell cycle.

Highlighted Article: multiple cellular processes mediate secondary palate fusion, including a unique form of streaming collective epithelial migration driven by pulsatile actomyosin contractility.

Summary: Using a range of reporter lines, expression maps of synaptic recognition molecules have been generated, which may provide insights into their function in Drosophila nervous system development.

Summary: Fragile X mental retardation protein regulates sensory neurons dendrite branching morphogenesis through effects on microtubule dynamics and stability, as well by controlling dendritic localization and expression of the actin regulator Chickadee.

Summary: Analysis of 70 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions reveals that natural variation in vegetative phase change is attributable both to miR156 and to genes that regulate vegetative traits independently of miR156.

Summary: Notch signaling acts in nephron segmentation to select early proximal, but not distal, tubule fate downstream of a global role in promoting epithelial growth and maturation in mouse and human.

Summary: Phytochrome-interacting factors orchestrate development of hypocotyl adventitious root by simultaneously activating genes involved in auxin biosynthesis, auxin transport and the transcriptional control of root primordium initiation.

Highlighted Article: In a large developing system, the chick embryo before gastrulation, cells may interpret gradients of positional signals relative to their neighbours to position the primitive streak, establishing bilateral symmetry.

Summary: Lmo7, an adaptor protein at apical junctions, triggers apical constriction by promoting non-muscle myosin II incorporation into actomyosin networks in Xenopus.

Summary: FGF signalling inhibition in cephalochordates induces a loss of anteriormost somites. After FGFR inhibition, the presomitic anterior region cells are incorporated in the anterior notochord which transiently present prechordal plate features.