Issues

Summary: An overview of The Company of Biologists 2022 workshop on 'Cell State Transitions: Approaches, Experimental Systems and Models' tackling emerging concepts in cell state and fate specification.

Summary: This Primer introduces the role of O-GlcNAcylation, an essential post-translational modification, in stem cells and development.

Summary: This study reveals the translational landscape during early human neural differentiation and provides insights into the regulation of cell fate determination at the translational level.

Summary: A previously unreported role for pancreatic ε-cells in zebrafish reveals that the conversion of ε-cells to β-cells can serve as a source of regeneration after extreme β-cell loss.

Summary: During aging, Hox expression is reduced, coincident with the decrease in skeletal stem cell number. Hoxa10 is a pro-stem cell factor and its overexpression partially restores bone regeneration in aged mice.

Summary: This study highlights the importance of Foxm1, a transcription factor that is activated in cardiac muscle cells to regulate cell cycle gene expression and cell division in regeneration.

Summary: We identify an essential role for the microtubule-severing enzyme spastin in the regulation of microtubule dynamics during spermatogenesis in mouse.

Summary: Secretory somatic cells enclose the Drosophila oocyte by invasive ingression between germ cells, followed by collective migration of three more cells, reorganizing to build eggshell over the anterior oocyte.

Highlighted Article: A new mouse model in which Wt1 expression is deleted in ECs reveals the crucial role of WT1 in coronary blood vessel development.

Summary: MafB controls expression of neurotransmitter and axon guidance receptor genes that promote islet cell migration and islet formation.

Summary: Itga7^−/− mice exhibit defects in the expression of endothelial junctional proteins as well as aberrant adhesion between astrocytes and laminins in vascular basement membranes, resulting in pathological blood–brain barrier integrity.

Summary: Drosophila Tropomodulin knockdown in larval myofibers results in myopathy-related phenotypes, with Tmod acting in actin-related processes at different subcellular locales, all essential for muscle integrity and function.

Summary: Genetic and biophysical manipulations, as well as in silico simulations, reveal a role for the C. elegans actin-capping protein CAP-1 in regulation of actomyosin contractility to maintain reproductive tissue architecture and fertility.

Summary: TBX18 is required to repress metanephric gene programs in the mesenchymal progenitors surrounding the distal ureter bud, which allows SHH and BMP4 signaling and the formation of the ureter.

Summary: Doctor No, a Drosophila AWP1 ortholog, activates JAK/STAT signaling via Dome receptor endocytosis in a crucial step for left–right asymmetry in the developing gut.

Highlighted Article: FGFR1 and FGFR2 receptors function coordinately in salivary gland epithelial tissue to regulate branching morphogenesis by impinging on cell adhesion processes independently of FGF canonical signaling.

Summary: Analysis of worm homologues of the mammalian diabetogenic genes Grp94 (enpl-1) and Get3 (asna-1) shows how they act together to support insulin secretion, suggesting that loss of this interaction might cause diabetes.

Summary: SCF is produced by Sertoli, endothelial, Leydig, smooth muscle cells and Tcf21-CreER⁺ stromal cells in the testis, but Sertoli cells are the only physiologically important source of SCF that contributes to spermatogenesis.

Summary: This study identified PIN-mediated auxin transport as an ancestral regulator of branching within the vascular plants.