Issues

Summary: In this Spotlight, we argue why a shift from passive donation towards more active involvement of patient-participants is particularly crucial for biobank research on complex tissues such as organoids aimed at precision medicine.

Summary: In Drosophila, new precision approaches to inducing tissue damage have enabled targeted injury and genetic manipulation of regenerating tissue. Here, we discuss these techniques and the mechanisms that regulate regeneration in Drosophila larval and adult tissues.

Summary: This Review summarizes recent advances in the use of single-cell based technologies to understand intermediate cell states, cellular heterogeneity and molecular trajectories of β-cell generation and regeneration.

Summary: This study provides the first comprehensive characterization of the zebrafish statoacoustic ganglion showing that, in sharp contrast to mammals, zebrafish display continued neurogenesis in the inner ear into adult stages.

Highlighted Article: blitzschnell is a novel gene family that controls cell number during planarian regeneration and nutrient-dependent growth/degrowth. Its expression depends on food ingestion and mTOR signaling.

Summary: Reduction of endocytic activity in Drosophila larval cells promotes cell elimination by stimulating Myosin II reorganization and a positive-feedback loop between caspase activation and E-cadherin.

Summary: MMP14 is required for the delamination of chick neural crest cells by promoting the basal positioning of nuclei during EMT, an effect that is independent of its catalytic activity.

Summary: This study demonstrates that Gsx2 physically interacts with the proneural factor Ascl1 in LGE progenitors and interferes with the DNA binding capacity of Ascl1, thus priming progenitors for neurogenesis while allowing for further expansion.

Summary: This work reveals the roles of basement membrane fibrils and stress fibers during tissue elongation in the Drosophila ovarian follicle and two new developmental functions for the Dystrophin-Dystroglycan complex.

Summary: A gene regulatory pathway involving CsCLV3, CsWUS, CsFUL1A and CsARF14 determines carpel number variation in an important vegetable crop – cucumber.

Highlighted Article: Time-controlled gain- and loss-of-function experiments reveal that Wnt ligands play an instructive role in the regulation of the terminal asymmetric divisions of neuronal progenitors.

Highlighted Article: Myh3 mouse alleles reveal that MyHC-embryonic is crucial for skeletal muscle development and adult Myh3 null mice exhibit scoliosis, a phenotype seen in congenital contracture syndromes.

Summary: c-Src is required for developmental angiogenic sprouting in the retina by controlling cell-matrix adhesion, revealing a context-dependent role for kinase signaling in endothelial cells.