Issues
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Cover image
Cover Image
Cover: Wild-type mouse pancreas at E14.5 whole-mount stained with antibodies against E-cadherin (purple) and VE-cadherin (red), and imaged by light-sheet microscopy. The 3D image reconstruction shows the complexity and the ‘honeycomb’ structure of the vascular network (red) around the epithelium bud (purple). See research article by Glorieux et al. (dev199655).
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
INTERVIEWS
PRIMER
Microfluidic systems for modeling human development
Summary: This Primer provides an overview of the fabrication and use of microfluidic systems for studying cellular development and differentiation, highlighting the advantages of using these systems over traditional culture techniques.
REVIEW
Development of the mammalian main olfactory bulb
Summary: This Review describes the morphological and functional maturation of cells in the mammalian main olfactory bulb, from embryonic development to adult neurogenesis.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
Regulation of stem cell identity by miR-200a during spinal cord regeneration
Highlighted Article: Axolotl spinal cord cells have the potential to form cells of the ectoderm and mesoderm depending on the extent of the injury they are responding to.
brinker levels regulated by a promoter proximal element support germ cell homeostasis
Summary: A promoter-proximal cis-regulatory element of the gene brinker regulates distal enhancer action and also directly acts to control brinker expression levels in cells co-expressing BMP ligand thereby influencing germ cell homeostasis.
Galectin-3 promotes the adipogenic differentiation of PDGFRα+ cells and ectopic fat formation in regenerating muscle
Summary: New proteomic and single-cell level transcriptomic datasets delineate the molecular changes underlying ectopic fat development in muscle.
Loss of plac8 expression rapidly leads pluripotent stem cells to enter active state during planarian regeneration
Highlighted Article: Decrease of plac8-A expression level changes qualitative state of adult pluripotent stem cells to regenerative state through induced hyperproliferation after amputation in planarian.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Tcf12 and NeuroD1 cooperatively drive neuronal migration during cortical development
Summary: How the functional cooperativity of Tcf12 and NeuroD1 in specific subpopulations of the developing cortex creates the gene regulatory program essential for neuronal migration.
Divergent evolution of developmental timing in the neocortex revealed by marsupial and eutherian transcriptomes
Highlighted Article:De novo transcriptomic profiling of developing marsupial neocortex reveals precocious neural maturation relative to eutherians.
TAF4b transcription networks regulating early oocyte differentiation
Summary: This study reveals a previously unknown embryonic mouse oocyte transcription network, including reproduction and chromatin genes, through unexpected promoter localization of TAF4b at Sp/Klf- and NFY-binding sites.
Osteoblasts pattern endothelium and somatosensory axons during zebrafish caudal fin organogenesis
Highlighted Article: Analysis of cellular interdependence during caudal fin development reveals roles for osteoblasts in patterning endothelium and somatosensory axon innervation.
An essential function for autocrine hedgehog signaling in epithelial proliferation and differentiation in the trachea
Summary: A conserved autocrine role for HH signaling in tracheal epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation is revealed, suggesting potential new interventions for airway epithelial proliferation and differentiation defects.
Mechanisms underlying the cooperation between loss of epithelial polarity and Notch signaling during neoplastic growth in Drosophila
Summary: During neoplastic growth in Drosophila, scribble mutations modulate Notch pathway transcriptional output without globally changing Su(H) occupancy. Notch and Scribble cooperate though transcription factor modules, including Pdp1.
WASp controls oriented migration of endothelial cells to achieve functional vascular patterning
Summary: Regular diameter of developing veins and arteries in the zebrafish trunk is controlled by differential endothelial cell proliferation and WASp-driven directed cell migration.
TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES
Zebrafish vascular quantification: a tool for quantification of three-dimensional zebrafish cerebrovascular architecture by automated image analysis
Summary: An image analysis workflow pipeline for 3D quantification of the total or regional zebrafish brain vasculature, called zebrafish vasculature quantification or ZVQ.
Development of a 3D atlas of the embryonic pancreas for topological and quantitative analysis of heterologous cell interactions
Summary: A light-sheet fluorescence microscopy approach is used for 3D imaging of the pancreas and to quantitatively map its interactions with surrounding tissues at key development time points in the mouse embryo.
CORRECTION
Correction: MEIS-WNT5A axis regulates development of fourth ventricle choroid plexus
PREPRINT HIGHLIGHTS
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025

We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
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.