Issues

Summary: This Spotlight surveys the recent surge in single-cell analyses of plant development, highlighting approaches to obtain and analyze single-cell data, as well as to provide new insights into plant development.

Summary: Embryonic salivary glands contain multiple stromal cell subpopulations. FGF2 maintains the Pdgfra⁺ population of the stromal cells in organoids, which drives early epithelial secretory cell differentiation, in part, using BMP ligands.

Summary: A ubiquitous transgenic fluorescent, ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator (FUCCI) axolotl line is used to study cell cycle dynamics during development, limb regeneration and tail regeneration.

Highlighted Article: A low-sugar diet in Drosophila promotes growth in both males and females, but the underlying genetic, transcriptional and metabolic mechanisms are not fully shared between the sexes.

Summary: Pax6 impacts neurite extension, axon initial segment properties and the ability to fire normal action potentials in maturing neurons, revealing actions extending beyond those previously characterised in progenitors.

Summary: The first high-resolution live imaging of anterior epiblast cells at the brain-forming stages in avian embryos is reported, revealing their long-distance migration and interaction with the anterior mesendoderm to form brain tissues.

Summary: A theoretical framework for the dynamics of body elongation in vertebrate embryos is provided, along with experimental observations that are consistent with it.

Highlighted Article: Wt1 is a well-studied epicardial marker that is also transiently expressed in a cardiomyocyte precursor pool. Sustained Wt1 expression in cardiomyocytes can change their cell fate into epicardial-like cells.

Highlighted Article: Blood flow and the large extracellular matrix protein Svep1 jointly regulate vessel anastomosis during developmental angiogenesis in zebrafish embryos partly by modulating the Vegfa/Vegfr signalling pathway.

Summary: A versatile Drosophila toolkit with a genetically encoded single-chain variable fragment for the HA epitope tag that allows various analyses of HA-tagged proteins of interest in live tissues by simple crossing.

Summary: A new genetically engineered mouse model reveals that the β8 integrin cytoplasmic tail is essential for activation of extracellular matrix adhesion during development of the neurovasculature.

Summary: Detailed examination of Drosophila mesoderm invagination reveals the importance of mechanical coupling between tissue domains during epithelial folding and a role for Dlg1 in coordination of this process.

Summary: Mitochondrial quality control protein LONP1 plays a pivotal role in maintaining the shift from anaerobic glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation during heart development, giving us a new perspective on the relationship between mitochondria and heart development.

Summary: Molecular, anatomical and cellular features allow mouse lung mesenchyme to be classified into three axes (vascular, epithelial and interstitial) and show two populations of myofibroblasts.

Highlighted Article: Myosin Vb isoforms are important in regulating epithelial cell morphology during development, and the Myosin Vb-Rab10 interaction is essential for directional cell growth downstream of mTOR signaling.

Summary: Epha1 is associated with an embryonic cell population with the characteristics of the neuromesodermal-competent cell population

Highlighted Article: Three regulators of the Hedgehog pathway, Engrailed, Suppressor of Fused and Roadkill modulate Cubitus interruptus expression and the competition between its activator and repressor forms.

Highlighted Article: UHRF2 promotes retinal progenitor cell G₁ cell cycle arrest, increases 5hmC and regulates gene expression, favoring progenitor retention over ganglion cell production during retinal development.

Highlighted Article: The development of an in vitro post-hatching culture system that sustains most developmental landmarks of sheep embryos up to gastrulating stages is presented, representing an unprecedented advance in ungulate species.