Issues

Summary: Claude Desplan, recently awarded the Society for Developmental Biology's Edwin G. Conklin Medal, discusses his career progression, how he became interested in neural development, and his approach to mentoring young scientists.

Summary: This Spotlight discusses developmental similarities between protist lineages and animals, highlighting how studying these protists could provide crucial insights into the early evolution of animal development.

Summary: This Hypothesis article outlines a new approach to designing in vitro neuronal differentiation protocols, capitalizing on recent developments in single-cell mRNA sequencing and machine learning algorithms to define neuronal developmental trajectories.

Summary: Nuclear pore complexes and their components have been found to play multiple functions in embryogenesis, cell differentiation and tissue-specific processes. Many of them are performed in a transport-independent manner. This Review highlights the roles of nucleoporins in during development and tissue homeostasis.

Summary: This Review summarizes the extensive roles of retinal ganglion cell interactions in shaping cell migration, vascular development, circuit formation and behavior, before the onset of vision in mammals.

Highlighted Article: We reveal new mechanisms that control development of the ear canal and highlight for the first time the complex system of canal closure and reopening.

Summary: E2A brings context specificity to the expression of neural genes and the NODAL signaling pathway to control lineage-specific gene expression and cell fate determination during early human development.

Summary: SUV420H2 regulation of H4K20me3-marked heterochromatin controls the chromatin structure of embryonic stem cells, where loss of SUV420H2 results in dysregulated gene expression and differentiation, altered 3D chromatin interactions, compartment switching and perturbed chromatin insulation.

Summary: Deletion of the fms-intronic regulatory element of Csf1r in mouse disrupts the engraftment and maintenance of central nervous system macrophages in a compartment-specific manner.

Highlighted Article: Optogenetic activation of RhoGEF2 at lateral cell sides drives epithelial folding in Drosophila wing discs.

Summary: There are dual, tissue-specific roles for the hedgehog co-receptor BOC in both the promotion and antagonism of hedgehog signaling during craniofacial development.

Summary: kctd15 paralogs regulate nephron segment commitment and differentiation through repressor-mediated genetic feedback with tfap2a. This fundamentally deepens our knowledge about the genetic control of kidney development.

Summary: Localization of BAF at the nuclear envelope of myonuclei depends on a functional LINC complex and on nucleus-sarcomere connections, and is shown to restrict E2F1 levels in the nucleoplasm.

Highlighted Article: The control of SPL/NZZ expression by the RdDM pathway and STK is essential for the formation of a single female germline precursor in Arabidopsis.

Summary: YAP and TAZ mediate the positive feedback loop between PROX1 and VEGF-C signaling in the developing lymphatic and lymphovenous valves.

Summary: We describe the expression pattern and function of candidate venation patterning genes in butterflies and propose how the simplified venation of flies might have evolved from a common ancestor of both flies and butterflies.

Highlighted Article: By regulating actin pool distribution and incorporation into junctional actin networks, thymosin β4 regulates cell–cell adhesion, planar cell polarity and epidermal morphogenesis.

Summary: Development of lymphovenous and venous valves is dependent upon the RASA1 Ras GTPase-activating protein that facilitates endothelial cell export of the vascular basement protein collagen IV.