Issues

Summary: We suggest that the inheritance and flexibility of cell polarity are implicated in the evolutionary expansion of the developing neocortex by promoting the amplification of neural progenitors and tangential migration of neurons.

Summary: This Review summarizes current knowledge of endometrial repair and regeneration following menstruation and parturition, and highlights lessons that may be applied to scar-free tissue repair.

Summary: This Review highlights signalling pathways and select transcription factors that direct liver development and contribute to liver cancer, and discusses applications of hepatic tissue engineering models for therapeutic discovery.

Highlighted Article: Esrrb and Nr5a2, two orphan nuclear receptors, are identified as essential regulators of pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells.

Highlighted Article: Mitochondrial import of STAT3 requires Y705 phosphorylation by Jak, whereas STAT3 mitochondrial transcriptional activity and its effect on proliferation depend on the MAPK target S727.

Summary:Single-minded 2, homolog of a gene required for gut looping in Drosophila, acts downstream of Pitx2 to regulate asymmetric stomach curvature in vertebrates.

Summary:. Deletion of a large portion of the 3′UTR of orb2 impairs male fertility as a result of mislocalization of orb2 mRNA and Orb2 protein in the spermatids, confirming its importance for proper spermatogenesis.

Summary: Loss of Gata3 in mouse leads to BMP-mediated disruption of Fgf8 expression at the maxillomandibular junction during development, resulting in later fusion of the upper and lower jaws.

Summary: Reelin acts as a ‘stop-growth-signal’ for postnatal interneuron maturation. Such signals might be required to transform dynamic immature dendrites into stable mature dendrites and to establish a balanced neuronal network connectivity.

Summary: Sobp interacts with Six1 in the cell nucleus and represses the transcriptional activation of Six1+Eya1 target genes. In Xenopus embryos, Sobp functions during early stages of inner ear development.

Summary: Gfi1aa, Lsd1 and cebpa form a regulatory network in zebrafish that controls neutrophil development and gfi1aa mutants exhibit hematological dysregulation similar to that observed in myelodysplasia syndrome.

Summary: Targeted DamID is established in C. elegans for tissue-specific gene expression profiling without cell isolation and is used to identify genes playing a role in seam cell development.

Highlighted Article: Strain-specific differences in the early brain transcriptome profile strongly influence the penetrance of holoprosencephaly and heart defects caused by impaired SHH signaling.

Summary: Using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and morpholino oligonucleotide knockdown, this study shows that tissues derived from the endoderm are dependent upon Klf5 ortholog expression for correct development and patterning in the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi.