Sex determination, as a model for the developmental process in mammals, is undoubtedly the principal reason for the intense activity of research on the Y chromosome. As the smallest human chromosome it also offers a simple system for studying those aspects of the human genome that are less well understood than genes and the control of their expression. These include functional regions, such as the kinetochores and telomeres involved in chromosome segregation and integrity. The regions associated with these functions contain the simple-sequence DNAs discovered more than 25 years ago but whose roles are still not understood. The association of simplesequence DNA with the more broadly defined heterochromatic regions of the genome is nowhere better seen than in the long arm of the Y chromosome. The four papers that follow describe studies of sequences in the Y chromosome in the region of the telomere of the short arm, in the...
About us
Our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 this year. Read about the history of the Company and find out what Sarah Bray, our Chair of the Board of Directors, has to say.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025
We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology
In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
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