Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Cross-section of an Arabidopsis hypocotyl undergoing secondary growth. Visualisation of lignifed cell walls reveals two types of xylem elements: smaller xylary fibres and larger, hollow vessels. See Research report by Felipo-Benavent et al. (dev164962).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
INTERVIEW
PRIMER
Planar cell polarity: two genetic systems use one mechanism to read gradients
Summary: The key molecules responsible for planar cell polarity form bridges that span between neighbouring cells. Gradients across the tissue cause these bridges to be asymmetrically localised within each cell.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Wingless promotes EGFR signaling in follicle stem cells to maintain self-renewal
Summary: This study identifies a hierarchy of niche signaling that maintains Drosophila follicle stem cells and might be important for a robust, yet dynamic, niche.
Fetal Leydig cells dedifferentiate and serve as adult Leydig stem cells
Highlighted Article: The Nr5a1 fetal Leydig enhancer is required for the initial dedifferentiation of mouse fetal Leydig cells as well as subsequent redifferentiation to adult Leydig cells in the postnatal testis.
Pvr receptor tyrosine kinase signaling promotes post-embryonic morphogenesis, and survival of glia and neural progenitor cells in Drosophila
Summary: In Drosophila, neuroblasts and cortex glia use a receptor tyrosine kinase-dependent feed-forward mechanism to actively maintain each other during neurogenesis, which contributes to glial tumorigenesis.
Drosophila small ovary gene is required for transposon silencing and heterochromatin organization, and ensures germline stem cell maintenance and differentiation
Summary: In Drosophila, Small ovary functions as a key component of heterochromatin to maintain the integrity of the stem cell niche and to regulate transposon silencing.
Simplet-dependent regulation of β-catenin signaling influences skeletal patterning downstream of Cx43
Summary: Connexin 43 regulates joint location by regulating Smp, and therefore β-catenin, which suppresses the expression of the transcription factor evx1.
Kmt2b conveys monovalent and bivalent H3K4me3 in mouse spermatogonial stem cells at germline and embryonic promoters
Highlighted Article: Histological and molecular approaches reveal that Kmt2b epigenetically primes mouse SSCs to upregulate genes during late spermatogenesis and embryogenesis, and that Kmt2b is required for SSC differentiation.
Transcriptional response to Wnt activation regulates the regenerative capacity of the mammalian cochlea
Summary: Canonical Wnt activation in the mammalian cochlea elicits a unique, age-dependent transcriptional response, which in part regulates the regenerative capacity of supporting cells during cochlear maturation.
Notchless defines a stage-specific requirement for ribosome biogenesis during lineage progression in adult skeletal myogenesis
Highlighted Article: Notchless regulates crucial steps in ribosome biogenesis, yet its inactivation reveals that it is required for proliferating myogenic cells, but not quiescent and differentiated myogenic cells.
RESEARCH REPORTS
Centriole planar polarity assessment in Drosophila wings
Summary: At least two pathways control centriole positioning in Drosophila wings: one linked to actin polymerization and another controlled by the core Fz-PCP pathway but independent of known PCP effectors.
WDR5 regulates left-right patterning via chromatin-dependent and -independent functions
Highlighted Article: The candidate congenital heart disease gene WDR5 is essential for left-right patterning via its role in ciliogenesis. WDR5, a chromatin modifier, regulates transcription of foxj1 but also has a nonchromatin role at the ciliary base.
The male gamete membrane protein DMP9/DAU2 is required for double fertilization in flowering plants
Summary: DMP9/DAU2 resident to the sperm cell surface arranges interactions with the egg cell that lead to the success of double fertilization.
WNT/β-catenin signaling plays a crucial role in myoblast fusion through regulation of nephrin expression during development
Summary: The tongue pathology in mice that lack β-catenin in the Myog-Cre-expressing myoblast population reveals that WNT/β-catenin signaling controls the myoblast fusion process through regulation of the nephrin gene.
Regulation of xylem fiber differentiation by gibberellins through DELLA-KNAT1 interaction
Summary: KNAT1-overexpressing Arabidopsis mutants reveal that gibberellin signaling promotes xylem fiber development by preventing DELLA-dependent inhibition of KNAT1 activity.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
SETDB1 is essential for mouse primordial germ cell fate determination by ensuring BMP signaling
Summary: We show that SETDB1 plays a crucial role in mouse PGC specification by repressing the transcription factors DPPA2, OTX2 and UTF1 to ensure the expression of BMP4 signaling-related genes.
The RhoGAP HUM-7/Myo9 integrates signals to modulate RHO-1/RhoA during embryonic morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans
Summary: Here, we describe how the conserved RhoGAP HUM-7/MYO9 integrates signals from SAX-3/ROBO to regulate cell migrations by attenuating RHO-1 GTPase activity, identifying new roles for RHO-1 during epidermal cell migration.
Molecular bases for the constitutive photomorphogenic phenotypes in Arabidopsis
Highlighted Article: A revised Arabidopsis model suggests that the cop phenotype is due to reduced levels of PIFs, increased levels of positively acting transcription factors and HFR1-mediated inhibition of PIF activity in the dark.
Inhibition of microRNA suppression of Dishevelled results in Wnt pathway-associated developmental defects in sea urchin
Summary: Blockade of microRNA-mediated suppression of Dishevelled isoforms during sea urchin development induces defects in the gut, spiculogenesis and ciliogenesis.
C. elegans PTEN and AMPK block neuroblast divisions by inhibiting a BMP-insulin-PP2A-MAPK pathway
Summary: C. elegans PTEN and AMPK stop neuroblast divisions during starvation, and in their absence BMP induces insulin signaling, which in turn activates PP2A and MAPK to promote neuroblast divisions.
De novo recruitment of Polycomb-group proteins in Drosophila embryos
Summary: Temporal recruitment of Polycomb-group proteins at a target gene as they assume control of transcriptional repression that is initiated by a gene-specific transcription factor.
TBX2 and TBX3 act downstream of canonical WNT signaling in patterning and differentiation of the mouse ureteric mesenchyme
Summary: This study provides molecular insight into how the two transcription factors TBX2 and TBX3 promote the formation of fully differentiated smooth muscle cells from mesenchymal progenitors in the mouse ureter.
The plant hormone auxin beats the time for oscillating light-regulated lateral root induction
Highlighted Article: Light controls periodic organ formation in Arabidopsis via a hormone-driven molecular oscillator with adjustable frequency.
TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES
Novel initiator caspase reporters uncover previously unknown features of caspase-activating cells
Summary: Novel initiator caspase sensors reveal previously unknown stages of apoptosis and stereotyped patterns of non-apoptotic caspase activation in physiological conditions.
CORRECTIONS
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A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology

In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
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