Despite its evolutionary conservation and functional importance, little is known of the signaling pathways that underlie development of the hypothalamus. Although mutations affecting Nodal and Hedgehog signaling disrupt hypothalamic development, the time and site of action and the exact roles of these pathways remain very poorly understood. Unexpectedly, we show here that cell-autonomous reception of Nodal signals is neither required for the migration of hypothalamic precursors within the neural plate, nor for further development of the anterior-dorsal hypothalamus. Nodal signaling is, however, cell-autonomously required for establishment of the posterior-ventral hypothalamus. Conversely, Hedgehog signaling antagonizes the development of posterior-ventral hypothalamus, while promoting anterior-dorsal hypothalamic fates. Besides their distinct roles in the regionalization of the diencephalon, we reveal cooperation between Nodal and Hedgehog pathways in the maintenance of the anterior-dorsal hypothalamus. Finally we show that it is the prechordal plate and not the head endoderm that provides the early signals essential for establishment of the hypothalamus.
Interviews with Biologists @ 100 conference speakers
Explore our interviews with keynote speakers from the Biologists @ 100 conference, hosted to celebrate our publisher’s 100th anniversary, where we discuss climate change and biodiversity with Hans-Otto Pörtner and Jane Francis, health and disease with Charles Swanton and Sadaf Farooqi, and emerging technologies with Manu Prakash and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz.
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 30 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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