Spinal cord myelination crucially depends on the long-distance migration of oligodendrocyte precursors (OPs) that originate from a ventral ventricular zone (VVZ) domain in the developing neural tube. Tsai et al. now report that the initial dispersal of OPs from this location is mediated by a chemorepulsive response to netrin 1, which belongs to the well-known family of neuronal chemorepellants and chemoattractants. They show, on p. 2095, that netrin 1 is expressed in chick ventral spinal cord when OPs initially migrate from the VVZ. In vitro, both chick ventral spinal cord explants and netrin 1-positive cells repel migratory OPs, which express the netrin 1 receptors DCC and UNC5. This chemorepulsive response can be inhibited by a function-blocking, anti-DCC antibody. These, and other, findings reported here highlight the crucial role of netrin 1 in the process of axon myelination.
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 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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