Issues

Summary: This Review summarizes the role of two major lipid metabolic pathways – de novo lipogenesis and fatty acid beta-oxidation – in hematopoietic stem cells, intestinal stem cells, neural stem/progenitor cells and cancer stem cells.

Summary: This Review discusses how understanding the relationship between electrical signaling and developmental systems requires the definition of hierarchical levels of action provided by bioelectric signaling.

Summary: Cellular and molecular analyses of FGF signalling perturbation during embryonic development and arm regeneration of the brittle Amphiura filiformis identify a conserved role in the formation of the skeleton in both processes.

Summary: Embryonic stem cell studies reveal that OTX2 limits epiblast contribution to the germline through repression of Nanog and Oct4 expression, and prevents germline entry in the absence of cytokines.

Summary: This study reveals an essential role for axonal MT1-MMP translation, on top of the well-recognized long-range transport of MT1-MMP proteins synthesized from neuronal cell bodies, in presynaptic differentiation.

Summary: Disruption of brain and eye development due to Brg1 deficiency in Sox2-expressing cells is greatly dependent on the timing of Brg1 loss.

Summary: MEIS1 regulates WNT5A expression in fourth ventricle choroid plexus, and epithelial WNT5A has temporal and dose-dependent roles in instructing fourth ventricle choroid plexus morphogenesis.

Summary: Dosage of neurotropic factor GDNF regulates nephron progenitors and in utero growth factor augmentation can extend postnatal lifespan and differentiation of nephron progenitors.

Summary: The new cell adhesion locus ELMO1 describes a Golgi protein required for cell adhesion and mannose accumulation in the cell wall of Arabidopsis.

Summary: Micro-CT imaging demonstrates that physical space constraints of the chest cavity early in gestation could contribute to altered lung development in a genetic model of congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Summary: DNA methylation, established in pre-meiotic spermatogonia, regulates synapsis of homologous chromosomes and, in turn, quality control of male germ cells, ensuring faithful transmission of both genetic and epigenetic information to offspring.

Summary: Spatial and temporal differences in lophophorate mesoderm development are observed in Spiralia, which suggests a possible diversification of mesodermal developmental programs, despite an overall conserved role of FGF signaling in mesoderm formation.

Summary: Cell intercalation via intercellular junction remodeling can occur over minutes or even hours. Three pathways, adhesion, endocytosis and Notch, were found to induce slow intercalation in cone cells of the fly retina.

Highlighted Article: Targeted injection of Xenopus embryos reveals that the focal adhesion protein Kindlin2 regulates the neural crest specification by mediating the fibroblast growth factor pathway independently of integrin activation.