Featured preLight
Cell polarity linked to gravity sensing is generated by protein translocation from statoliths to the plasma membrane by Takeshi Nishimura et al. and Amyloplast sedimentation repolarizes LAZYs to achieve gravity sensing in plants by Jiayue Chen et al.
Model for gravity sensing in plant columella cells. Figure 6 from Chen et al., 2023 (BioRxiv) published under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
preLighters
Marc Somssich, Postdoctoral Fellow at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany
Gwendolyn K. Kirschner, Postdoctoral Fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
Why it was selected
“The root graviresponse is a textbook topic for biology students, and the actual experiment, in which a change in root growth direction can readily be observed within a couple of hours after rotating the plant by 90°, is typically part of basic hands-on plant biology courses. The question of how the tumbling of amyloplasts onto a membrane can trigger a physiological response has thus been a key question discussed in these courses, and we still remember this being the case when we were students 15 and 20 years ago, respectively. To now read a solution to a textbook problem feels like a real milestone…”
Other relevant preLight posts
Generating human neural diversity with a multiplexed morphogen screen in organoids by Neal D. Amin et al.
How do morphogen signals instruct stem cells to acquire a specific neuronal identity? This preprint by Amin, Kelley, and team provides us with a roadmap.
Selected by Monica Tambalo. Read the preLight.
Mitochondrial citrate carrier SLC25A1 is a dosage-dependent regulator of metabolic reprogramming and morphogenesis in the developing heart by Chiemela Ohanele et al.
Powerhouse failure…heartbreaking. Mitochondrial citrate carrier is required for mitochondrial maturation and cardiac development.
Selected by Chee Kiang Ewe and Preethi Krishnaraj. Read the preLight.
Regeneration leads to global tissue rejuvenation in aging sexual planarians by Xiaoting Dai et al.
What doesn't kill you makes you younger: damage-induced tissue regeneration resets the clock for elderly flatworms
Selected by Sophia Friesen. Read the preLight.
A transposase-derived gene required for human brain development by Luz Jubierre Zapater et al.
A domesticated transposase required for healthy neurodevelopment: possibly through developmental apoptosis and synaptic plasticity.
Selected by Amanda Ivanoff. Read the preLight.
Planarians employ diverse and dynamic stem cell microenvironments to support whole-body regeneration by Blair W. Benham-Pyle et al.
When it comes to planarian stem cells, it's not a one-niche-fits-all situation.
Selected by preLights peer support and Girish Kale. Read the preLight.
Interspecies blastocyst complementation generates functional rat cell-derived forebrain tissues in mice by Jia Huang et al.
Pinky and the Brain live action. Growing a rat brain inside a brainless mouse via interspecies blastocyst complementation.
Selected by Martin Estermann. Read the preLight.
daf-42 is an evolutionarily young gene essential for dauer development in Caenorhabditis elegans by Daisy S. Lim et al.
DAFining dauer – a novel secreted factor determines developmental trajectory in nematode.
Selected by Chee Kiang Ewe. Read the preLight.
Complete male-to-female sex reversal in XY mice lacking the miR-17∼92 cluster by Alicia Hurtado et al.
Small but mighty! miRNA cluster miR-17-92 knock out results in complete testis to ovary sex reversal
Selected by Martin Estermann. Read the preLight.
Embryo mechanics cartography: inference of 3D force atlases from fluorescence microscopy by Sacha Ichbiah et al.
May the (3D map of the) force be with you, and guide you through the labyrinth of embryonic development
Selected by Girish Kale. Read the preLight.
Maintenance of pluripotency in the entire ectoderm enables neural crest formation by Ceren Pajanoja et al.
When does the embryo finally lose pluripotency? Pajanoja et. al identify a transcriptional signature of pluripotency that is maintained throughout neurulation in the ectoderm.
Selected by Andrew Montequin. Read the preLight.
Laboratory evolution of flies to morphogen dosage via rapid maternal changes reveals predictable outcomes by Xueying C. Li et al.
To ‘big embryo’ (BE), or not to BE, that's the question
Selected by Girish Kale. Read the preLight.
Coordinated growth of linked epithelia is mediated by the Hippo pathway by Sophia Friesen, Iswar K. Hariharan
Roses are red, violets are blue, when the disk proper grows, hippo stretches peripodial epithelium too.
Selected by Girish Kale. Read the preLight.
Conserved Chamber-Specific Polyploidy Maintains Heart Function in Drosophila by Archan Chakraborty et al.
The importance of being in the right place, with the right ploidy, at the right time- and how not to mend broken hearts.
Selected by Anastasia Moraiti. Read the preLight.
