Issues

Summary: This Review discusses endothelial cell behavior during developmental angiogenesis, focusing on the morphogenetic changes that these cells undergo.

Summary: This Review highlights the latest insights into the mechanisms underlying intestinal morphogenesis - from gut tube lengthening to villus and microvillus formation.

Summary: This Review summarises the different mesenchymal stem cell populations present in the mammalian tooth and supporting tissues, and discusses their potential application for dental therapies.

Highlighted article: The TALE-homeodomain protein PBX1 promotes neural as opposed to oligodendroglial fate in adult mouse neural stem cells, as well as the long-term survival of newborn neurons.

Summary: During neurogenesis in zebrafish, miRNA-mediated depletion of Par polarity proteins diminishes the Sonic Hedgehog signaling response, likely by modulating primary cilia.

Summary: In the fly notum, a reciprocal relationship between Notch signalling and cell cycle progression acts like a clock, providing a delimited window of time during which cells decide their fate.

Highlighted article: During branching morphogenesis of the salivary gland, mesenchymal WNT signals promote duct formation and inhibit KIT-mediated proacinar differentiation.

Highlighted article: The increase in tyrosine phosphorylation seen during sperm capacitation is mediated by the FER kinase, but this does not seem to be essential for fertilisation in vivo in mice.

Summary: The spinal motor neuron-specifying LIM complex controls ventral motor axonal projection by activating the expression of STAM1, which in turn regulates the chemokine receptor CXCR4.

Summary: Mutations in the Golgi protein Golgb1 are associated with cleft palate in mice. Golgb1 has specific functions in protein glycosylation and tissue morphogenesis.

Summary: The tumour suppressor APC is required by Schwann cells for their timely differentiation to mature myelinating cells; conditional knockout mice display hindlimb weakness and impaired axonal conduction.

Summary: The protocadherins Fat4 and Dchs1 promote proliferation in the developing mouse somites, independently of both the planar cell polarity pathway and the Yap/Taz Hippo effectors.

Summary: SOX2 has two independent roles during pituitary morphogenesis: promoting progenitor proliferation via SIX6 and determining melanotroph identity via PAX7.

Summary: During cell fate specification in the Drosophila eye, BEAF-32 regulates expression of Hippo pathway components and acts downstream of Warts to control photoreceptor identity.

Summary: In the developing mouse neocortex, the YAP transcription factor is activated by BMP2 signaling, and in turn stabilises Smad1 to promote proliferation and differentiation of astrocytes.

Summary: Pupation timing in Drosophila is determined in the fat body by regulating 20-HE production. The unstable transcriptional repressor Blimp-1 is a key component of this system.

Summary: During Drosophila cellularisation, myosin recruitment to the cleavage furrows proceeds in temporally and mechanistically distinct phases separately regulated by dunk and slam.

Summary: Polycomb-mediated repression of the Abd-B Hox gene controls expression of retinal determination genes and hence identity of the Drosophila optic lobe neuroepithelia.

Summary: Transcriptome analyses identify new elements within the dorsoventral gene regulatory network of the beetle Tribolium castaneum compared with Drosophila.

Summary: The sequential addition of posterior segments in the spider is controlled by Delta/Notch-mediated regulation of Wnt signalling, and by a downstream gene regulatory network, including pair-rule genes.

Summary: Co-culture of rodent spinal cord explants and primary myoblasts provides an in vitro system to study fundamental aspects of neuromuscular junction formation, maintenance and dysfunction.