Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Composite image of astrocytic cells in the mouse spinal cord at E18.5. Individual astrocytes expressing fluorescent proteins were pseudocoloured and arranged on a spinal cord cross-section (cell nuclei in grey). The image illustrates the morphological diversity of astrocytes derived from a common progenitor domain. See Research article by Sartoretti et al. (dev200750)
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEW
REVIEWS
Time to go: neural crest cell epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition
Summary: Neural crest cells are an embryonic population of migratory stem cells that form many derivatives. This Review summarizes our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving their epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.
Linking neural crest development to neuroblastoma pathology
Summary: In this Review, we focus on recent studies describing mouse and human neural crest-derived sympathoadrenal development, which are redefining our understanding of the mechanistic underpinnings of neuroblastoma.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Maternal Ezh1/2 deficiency in oocyte delays H3K27me2/3 restoration and impairs epiblast development responsible for embryonic sub-lethality in mouse
Summary: Maternal knockout mice models show that H3K27me2/3 restoration is delayed in pre-implantation embryos and that the epiblast is compromised during development, revealing the role of PRC2-H3K27me3 in safeguarding pluripotent epiblast fate.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Multifunctional role of GPCR signaling in epithelial tube formation
Summary: The Smog GPCR regulates distinct myosin pools and the actin cytoskeleton in a ligand-dependent manner during epithelial tube formation.
MIG-23 is involved in sperm migration by modulating extracellular ATP levels in Ascaris suum
Summary: During nematode sperm activation, the ATP produced is released into extracellular space via innexin channels and hydrolyzed by the ecto-nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase MIG-23 to modulate cytoskeleton dynamics and sperm motility.
Nutrition-dependent juvenile hormone sensitivity promotes flight-muscle degeneration during the aphid dispersal-reproduction transition
Summary: TORC1-mediated tissue-specific juvenile hormone sensitivity and thus juvenile hormone signaling induces flight-muscle degeneration by blocking the energy supply in the female winged aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum.
TWIST1 interacts with β/δ-catenins during neural tube development and regulates fate transition in cranial neural crest cells
Summary: A previously unreported function for Twist1 in neural tube closure and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cranial neural crest cells. Twist1-interacting Irf6 is involved in regulating neural tube integrity.
Functional analysis of the Vsx2 super-enhancer uncovers distinct cis-regulatory circuits controlling Vsx2 expression during retinogenesis
Highlighted Article: A context-specific requirement of Vsx2 enhancer elements during retinogeneis.
The germ plasm is anchored at the cleavage furrows through interaction with tight junctions in the early zebrafish embryo
Summary: Vertebrates and invertebrates use different mechanisms to anchor germ plasm, with evolutionary conservation between vertebrates. In early zebrafish embryos, germ plasm is anchored by tight junctions at the cleavage furrows.
Remodeling of organelles and microtubules during spermiogenesis in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha
Summary: We classified the developmental process of spermatozoids into 1+5 stages and characterized the remodeling of organelles and microtubules and roles of ESCRT proteins during spermiogenesis in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha.
Dbx1 controls the development of astrocytes of the intermediate spinal cord by modulating Notch signaling
Highlighted Article: Mouse spinal cord Dbx1+ embryonic progenitors produce a region-specific subset of astrocytes in which Dbx1 regulates the balance of neuronal versus glial cell fate via its effect on Notch-mediated cell interactions.
SmcHD1 underlies the formation of H3K9me3 blocks on the inactive X chromosome in mice
Summary: Absence of SmcHD1 in mouse epiblast stem cells and embryonic fibroblasts leads to a loss of histone H3K9me3 enrichment on the inactive X chromosome, revealing a crucial role of SmcHD1 in X chromosome inactivation.
GATA6 is a crucial factor for Myocd expression in the visceral smooth muscle cell differentiation program of the murine ureter
Summary:Gata6 is expressed in the undifferentiated ureteric mesenchyme and its conditional loss leads to hydroureternephrosis in fetal and adult mice revealing its potential use as a candidate for genetic screening for hydroureter.
BRAVO self-confined expression through WOX5 in the Arabidopsis root stem-cell niche
Summary: Mathematical modeling of transcription factors expressed in the Arabidopsis root stem-cell niche shows that immobilization of WOX5 by BRAVO sequestration is sufficient to drive spatially self-confined BRAVO expression.
PREPRINT HIGHLIGHTS
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about Development’s journey and highlights from some its first issues, and explore the history of each of our sister journals: Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology
In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
Did you know that Development publishes perspectives on recent preprints? These articles help our readers navigate the ever-growing preprint literature. We welcome proposals for ‘In preprints’ articles, so please do get in touch if you’d like to contribute.
