Issues

Summary: A retrospective on the life and work of the pioneering Japanese developmental biologist Tokindo Okada, whose research focussed on cell plasticity and transdifferentiation.

Summary: In our latest interview, Eric Wieschaus tells us about his Nobel Prize-winning fly screens, his interest in the cell biology of development and his love of painting.

Summary: This Review discusses the developmental processes underlying Notch-related congenital disorders in humans, drawing on data from model organisms and genome-sequencing projects.

Highlighted Article: The heat shock protein HSP90β regulates the half-life of HNF4A and is necessary for efficient differentiation of hepatocytes from human iPSCs.

Summary: Human endometrium organoids replicate the menstrual cycle in response to hormone treatment, while mouse endometrium organoid type is determined by variations in WNT.

Summary: Network analysis during appendage regeneration in Ciona robusta predicts the importance of, the relationship between and the regulation of numerous gene functional categories during this process.

Highlighted Article: Segregation of the germ layer progenitors in the zebrafish gastrula is driven by directed cell migration, rather than differential tissue surface tension.

Highlighted Article: A non-cell-autonomous mechanism regulates inhibitory neuron synapse formation at the neuromuscular junction.

Summary: Maternal inheritance of a mutation to block RNA elongation through KvDMR1 results in an absence of DNA methylation at KvDMR1, biallelic expression of Kcnq1ot1 and suppression of maternally expressed genes.

Summary: Reciprocal degradation of PIFs and HFR1 highlights a novel mechanism by which HLH factors regulate the abundance of bHLH factors to optimize photomorphogenesis in Arabidopsis.

Summary: A SMO/FU positive regulatory loop nested within a multikinase phosphorylation cascade regulates high level Hedgehog signaling in the Drosophila wing imaginal disc.

Summary: The Arf1/Sec71-dependent secretory pathway governs Golgi integrity and dendrite pruning in Drosophila sensory neurons.

Summary: Double knockout of Rac1 and Rac3 in cerebellar granule neurons impairs their tangential migration and final differentiation. Rac depleted cells exhibit decreased levels of Mid1 and impaired mTORC1 signaling.

Summary: A combination of experimental work and theory reveals how gradients in transcription, signaling and resulting contractility shape tissue folding.

Summary: The Sox18^Op/+ mutation in mice, which mimics a hair loss condition in humans, leads to decreasing Wnt signal interactions with the hair follicle epidermis and abnormal hair follicle morphology.

Summary: A detailed analysis of posterior segment addition in an insect reveals that the growth zone is divided into two functional domains responsible for growth and differentiation.

Summary: Sox17 haploinsufficiency in the gallbladder induces ectopic cystic duct-like epithelia and defective smooth muscle formation by reduced Shh signals.