Issues

Summary: George Daley, who was awarded the ISSCR 2017 Public Service Award, talks about his career investigating the biology and clinical application of stem cells, the importance of ethical guidelines and of science advocacy.

Summary: This Meeting Review of the 2017 EMBO/EMBL Symposium ‘Metabolism in Time and Space’ summarizes recent findings that emphasize how metabolism and developmental biology are inseparably linked in animals and plants.

Summary: This Primer discusses the complex embryo-uterine interactions that induce, maintain and reactivate the blastocyst from diapause, highlighting the roles of hormones, cytokines and growth factors across animal species.

Summary: miR-124 is required during de novo regeneration of the cephalic ganglion and visual system in planarians, as well as in slit-1 expression in the midline of anterior regenerating tissue via canonical Notch signaling.

Summary: Niche-specific expression of the TGFβ protein Dpp, which promotes GSC self-renewal, is regulated by the cap cell transcription factor En and co-activator Nej via a novel 5′ dpp enhancer.

Highlighted Article: Histone H2Av and JIL-1 kinase are not required in Drosophila for chromatin decondensation associated with transcriptional activation, instead implicating a role for PARP-1 downstream of JIL-1-mediated H3S10 phosphorylation.

Highlighted Article: BMP/SMAD signaling is required for endothelial cells to align and migrate in a directional manner in response to blood flow-induced mechanical stimulation.

Highlighted Article: In nematode species with small spermatocytes, post-meiotic cytoskeletal reorganization becomes unipolar, generating the equivalent of female polar bodies as half the genetic material is discarded along with unnecessary cellular components.

Highlighted Article: Analysis of knockout mice reveals a dual role for Kdm4a in both early embryonic development and maintenance of the maternal uterine environment, identifying it as a crucial factor for female fertility.

Summary: Anterior and then mammillary hypothalamic cells differentiate from Fgf10⁺ progenitors that are retained as central tuberal hypothalamic cells. Shh is required for anterior regionalisation and also for integrated hypothalamic/pituitary development.

Summary: Genetic approaches demonstrate that, during normal murine development, the SHH pathway is first required for normal specification of Rathke's pouch embryonic precursors and subsequently to control their proliferation.

Summary: Using a Rb triple knockout mouse model, Chk1 pathway activation during S phase is shown to prevent cell death and override the mitotic resistance of pathological hypoxic and differentiating neurons.

Summary: Comparison of tissue interactions during tympanic membrane development in mouse and chick indicates similarities and differences in the developmental mechanisms and evolution of middle ear morphology in mammals and diapsids.

Summary: A small set of limb type-restricted genes among the broadly conserved Pitx1 gene regulatory network, including components of the chondrogenic program, establishes hindlimb identity in mouse.

Summary: A population of migratory myofibroblasts at the leading edge of the closing ventral body wall expresses cytoskeletal components and TGFβR2 and responds to an epithelial TGFβ2 morphogen gradient to drive midline closure.

Summary: A unique role for netrin 1-sensitive apoptosis during morphogenesis of chicken semicircular canals is revealed by comparing the expression and activity of netrin 1 in chicken and mouse inner ears.

Summary: Vrtn, a novel antagonist or repressor of embryonic ventralisation, functions independently of, but in cooperation with, Wnt/β-catenin signalling to regulate DV patterning in zebrafish.

Summary: Comprehensive, extensively validated Ciona notochord transcriptomes provide an important resource for studies of notochord specification, morphogenesis and evolution. Ectopic Brachyury expression induces a surprisingly small subset of notochord-enriched genes.