Issues

Summary: This Obituary discusses the life and legacy of Hans Meinhardt, a pioneer in the field of theoretical biology who died earlier this year.

Summary: This Primer discusses the bi-functional ‘coding and non-coding’ class of RNAs, known as cncRNAs, and reviews their roles, regulation and mechanisms of action during development.

Summary: This Review summarises the different stem cell populations that have been described in the adult mammalian heart, as well their developmental origin and lineage potential both in vivo and in vitro.

Summary: This Review summarises the transcription factor and epigenetic control of stomatal development and patterning, highlighting similarities between plant and animal developmental mechanisms.

Summary: Associations of BAF155 with other BAF complex subunits are enriched in extra-embryonic lineages prior to implantation, while changes in BAF155 levels modulate the expression of early developmental markers.

Summary: A quantitative approach reveals how the pre-HSC pool undergoes dramatic growth in the AGM region and, by E11.5, reaches the size that matches the number of definitive HSCs in the E12.5 foetal liver.

Highlighted article: Characterisation of the neural stem cells in the gnathal head region completes the mapping of all individual neuroblasts that generate the Drosophila CNS.

Summary: A new model for understanding the earliest steps of hematopoiesis is based on the in vitro recapitulation of hemogenic endothelium commitment from quail pre-somitic mesoderm.

Summary: Shh signalling polarises skate gill arches and maintains proliferative expansion of gill arch appendage endoskeletal progenitors, mirroring the function of Shh signalling in the tetrapod limb.

Highlighted article: Macrophages populate the lung in three waves, each giving rise to a distinct lineage that expresses different markers, resides in a different location and renews in a different way.

Highlighted article: Live imaging of mural cell dynamics in zebrafish shows how the mural cells develop and cover the endothelial cells during vascular development.

Highlighted article: A network of embryonic genes, many of which are expressed in the mesoderm and the organiser, can initiate transcription through a non-canonical mechanism.

Highlighted article: Interactions among Cut, Pdm1/2, Scalloped and Vestigial transcription factors control cell type-specific dendrite morphogenesis in Drosophila sensory neurons.

Summary: A novel role for the Cdx proteins at the top of the trunk neural crest gene regulatory network is revealed via a neuroectoderm-directed functional knockdown approach in mouse.

Summary: Contraction of the ovarian muscles helps to produce the elongated shape of the Drosophila egg by stimulating yolk uptake by the oocyte.

Summary: α-Spectrin and integrins regulate apical constriction-independent cell elongation, identifying a primary role for α-Spectrin in controlling cell shape.

Summary: Novel roles are uncovered for centromere assembly factors CENP-C and CAL1 in meiotic chromosome segregation, CENP-A assembly and maintenance of sperm, as well as fertility in Drosophila males.

Summary: The transcription factor Glass functions downstream of Sine oculis to activate the expression of phototransduction proteins via its direct target, Hazy.

Summary: ZFP36L3-deficient mice have fewer offspring than normal and increased placental expression of many potential target genes, including genes essential for placenta function.