Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Muscle precursors migrate away from somites in discrete streams. These streams, which emanate from both sides of the embryo, are visualized using a new transgenic line, six1b:lyn-GFP (green), in a fixed zebrafish embryo. Somites are visualized by expression of a slow-twitch muscle marker, smyhc1:lyn-tdTomato (purple). See Research article by Talbot et al. (dev171421).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
OBITUARY
Thomas M. Jessell (1951-2019)
Summary: Silvia Arber and James Briscoe look back at the life and career of Thomas M. Jessell who revolutionized our understanding of the mechanisms controlling neural tube development and circuit formation.
REVIEWS
Mechanisms of intercellular Wnt transport
Summary: This Review describes the trafficking mechanisms proposed to mediate the extracellular transport of Wnt proteins and discusses how they contribute to Wnt dispersal.
Biochemical mechanisms of vertebrate hedgehog signaling
Summary: This Review discusses recent structural and biochemical studies that have advanced our understanding of the vertebrate hedgehog pathway, a cell-cell communication system that plays important roles in development and disease.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
An epiblast stem cell-derived multipotent progenitor population for axial extension
Summary: A protocol that efficiently produces neuromesodermal progenitors from a multipotent population with progenitors for a variety of mesodermal derivatives.
RESEARCH REPORTS
The MED30 subunit of mediator complex is essential for early plant development and promotes flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana
Summary: Arabidopsis MED30 is essential not only for allele transmission through the male gametophyte, but also for embryo and seed development, later promoting phase transitions during subsequent developmental stages.
Functional analysis of Niemann-Pick disease type C family protein, NPC1a, in Drosophila melanogaster
Summary: Niemann-Pick disease family protein (NPC1a) is involved in embryonic germ cell migration and Hedgehog signaling in Drosophila melanogaster.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Lin28-mediated temporal promotion of protein synthesis is crucial for neural progenitor cell maintenance and brain development in mice
Summary: A temporal regulation of protein synthesis by Lin28 in early brain development.
Molecular signatures identify immature mesenchymal progenitors in early mouse limb buds that respond differentially to morphogen signaling
Summary: Cell sorting identifies limb bud mesenchymal progenitors (LMPs) with distinct molecular signatures and differential dependence on morphogen signaling. Specifically, two immature LMP populations with strong chondrogenic differentiation potential are identified.
Primary wall cellulose synthase regulates shoot apical meristem mechanics and growth
Highlighted Article: An interdisciplinary approach reveals that the CELLULOSE SYNTHASE complex influences both physical and biological processes at the shoot apical meristem.
Barhl2 maintains T cell factors as repressors and thereby switches off the Wnt/β-Catenin response driving Spemann organizer formation
Summary: A novel nuclear inhibitor holds Tcf7l1 in a transcriptional inhibitory state and promotes silencing of Wnt target genes.
Organ-specific genetic interactions between paralogues of the PXY and ER receptor kinases enforce radial patterning in Arabidopsis vascular tissue
Summary: Removal of all PXY and ER gene family members results in profound cell division and organisation defects in Arabidopsis vascular tissue.
A single KH domain in Bicaudal-C links mRNA binding and translational repression functions to maternal development
Summary: Maternal cell fate decisions in vertebrate embryos rely upon a specific set of molecular interactions between the evolutionarily conserved Bicaudal-C protein and its mRNA targets.
Muscle precursor cell movements in zebrafish are dynamic and require Six family genes
Summary: In vivo examination of long-distance migrations of zebrafish muscle precursors reveals how these cells are specified prior to migration and organized during migration to generate four hypaxial muscles.
CORRECTION
Correction: Sox30 initiates transcription of haploid genes during late meiosis and spermiogenesis in mouse testes (doi:10.1242/dev.164855)
PREPRINT HIGHLIGHTS
Development Journal Meeting 2023
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We are delighted to announce that our 2023 Journal Meeting ‘Unconventional and Emerging Experimental Organisms in Cell and Developmental Biology’ will be held from 17-20 September 2023 at Wotton House, Surrey, UK. Find out more and register here.
Call for papers: Metabolic and Nutritional Control of Development and Regeneration

We are welcoming submissions for our next special issue, which will focus on metabolic and nutritional control of development and regeneration. Submission deadline: 15 May 2023.
preLights 5th Birthday webinar

preLights, our preprint highlighting service, is celebrating its 5th birthday this year. To mark the occasion, join us online on 14 March 2023 at 16:00 GMT for a discussion, led by four preLights alumni, on how to identify and navigate the challenges and opportunities while shaping your career as an early-career researcher.
Transitions in development: Daniel Grimes

Daniel Grimes’s lab studies the consequences of ciliary mutations, including left-right patterning defects and scoliosis. We interviewed Daniel to find out more about his career path, his experience of becoming a group leader and the influence of Jurassic Park.
Preprints in Development
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As part of our efforts to support the use of preprints and help curate the preprint literature, we are delighted to launch a new article type: ‘In preprints’. These pieces will discuss one or more recent preprints and place them in a broader context.