Issues

Summary: This Primer refines the term totipotency, explores the nature of cells reported to be totipotent and discusses the experimental capacity of these cells to differentiate into all lineages, in vivo and in vitro.

Summary: This Primer summarizes the current known features of 2-cell-like cells (2CLCs), providing a reference for the community and clarifying what we know about 2CLC identity.

Summary: This Review summarizes the current knowledge of circRNAs, a complex family of eukaryotic transcripts with important biological features, and discusses the possible functions of circRNAs in cell differentiation and development.

Summary: This Review provides crucial insight into the recent mechanical models of morphogenesis, and the approaches used to predict and measure mechanical properties of the plant cell wall.

Highlighted Article: Mutagenic and expression analyses demonstrate that inhibition of the activity of PKD family members promotes the maintenance of the undifferentiated state of mouse and human embryonic stem cells.

Summary: Changes in neural tissue-specific Notch signaling reveal that activation of this signaling is required for zebrafish V2b interneuron differentiation, but its attenuation is important for the maturation of V2b interneurons.

Highlighted Article: Expression and functional analyses revealed that Prdm8 regulates the timing of a motor neuron-oligodendrocyte switch and oligodendrocyte lineage cell identity in the zebrafish spinal cord by dampening Shh activity in pMN progenitors.

Summary: Mutagenic analyses in rat and zebrafish reveal a new role for Llgl1 promoting Yap protein stability, which facilitates more precise modulation of Hippo-Yap signaling in cardiomyocytes and zebrafish cardiac development.

Highlighted Article: This study describes a role of TCF7L2 in neuronal differentiation of thalamic glutamatergic neurons at two developmental stages, highlighting its involvement in the postnatal establishment of crucial thalamic electrophysiological features.

Summary: Fgfbp1 is necessary for collagen IV deposition in the CNS endothelium basement membrane and may facilitate presentation of Wnt ligands to their receptors on EC membranes by concentrating them close to cell junctions.

Summary: Arabidopsis WRKY55 transcription factor gene positively regulates leaf senescence and resistance to a bacterial pathogen by targeting genes implicated in salicylic acid and reactive oxygen species synthesis, and other genes.