Issues

Summary: The timing of developmental events is crucial for normal embryogenesis. In this Spotlight, we discuss how time is measured and regulated in development, and question whether it is truly different between species.

Summary: This Review revisits the lineage contribution of hematopoietic stem cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells, and highlights their different biological functions under native and stress conditions.

Highlighted Article: Optogenetic activation of Wnt signaling in human embryonic stem cells allows control of cell-to-cell variability, induces self-organization and tissue-scale patterning, and enables investigation of signaling feedback mechanisms.

Summary: This study defines specific steps to generate more robust and predictable myogenic cells from human pluripotent stem cells and explores the regulation of SIX1 in early myogenic commitment.

Summary: The chimaeric embryo is endowed with a multi-level regulatory mechanism involving FGF4/MAPK signalling and apoptosis, aiming at preserving the balance between cell lineages.

Highlighted Article: This work implicates five autism-associated chromatin regulators in mitotic spindle regulation and provides evidence for broader convergence of tubulin-related biology in autism risk.

Summary: A conditional-knockout study of the spindle assembly checkpoint protein Mad2 in the mouse oocyte reveals an unexpected role in chromosome segregation.

Summary: In the Drosophila male germline, VCP translocates from the cytosol to the nucleus during meiosis and directs downregulation of mono-ubiquitylated H2A to support spermatocyte gene expression and differentiation.

Summary: In vitro and in vivo models paired with loss- and gain-of-function approaches reveal that after triggering the spermatogonial differentiation program, retinoic acid is dispensable for meiotic initiation in the mammalian testis.

Summary: Analysis of a mouse mutant identifies a previously unreported planar cell polarity regulator in hindgut morphogenesis and presents a new model for the etiology of caudal regression syndrome.

Summary: The paracrine actions of fetal Sertoli cells are crucial to repress feminization in surface epithelia/subepithelia and peri-mesonephric interstitial tissues, even after testis formation in the mouse embryo.

Summary: Hedgehog co-receptors Cdon and Boc regulate neural crest cell migration and differentiation of slow-twitch muscle in the zebrafish trunk.