Just as chromatin structure influences gene expression, molecules that orchestrate chromatin remodeling can influence cell fate by regulating the transcription of cell-fate specification genes. On p. 2991, Erik Andersen and H. Robert Horvitz investigate the roles of histone methyltransferases (HMTs) in cell-fate specification in Caenorhabditis elegans vulval development. They used RNAi or deletion alleles to systematically probe the phenotypes of all 38 SET-domain-containing HMTs in C. elegans. They found that double mutants in the genes met-1 and met-2 cause ectopic vulva induction, and show that the two HMTs act redundantly to repress the transcription of the EGF gene lin-3, which induces vulval development. This makes met-1and met-2 so-called synMuv genes, which negatively regulate vulval development. But how do they work? The authors show that MET-1 and MET-2 are homologous to HMTs that methylate histones at H3K36 and H3K9, respectively,and both proteins are required for normal histone trimethylation. They propose a model for the way that these HMTs act with other chromatin-remodeling factors to repress transcription and to inhibit vulval cell fates.
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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