Issues

Summary: Deleting Phf5a in B cells reveals its essential role in IgH chain V-to-DJ gene rearrangement via modulating RAG activity and chromatin interaction at the IgH locus in a spliceosome-dependent manner.

Summary: This Review provides an overview of recent progress in mapping pancreatic innervation and understanding the interactions between pancreatic neurons, epithelial morphogenesis, cell differentiation and development of diabetes.

Highlighted Article: This study pioneers the use of advanced 3D organoids to explore the evolution and function of mammary glands across various mammalian species.

Summary: This study developed a transgenic platform for tracking basal epidermal stem cells in zebrafish and examined their developmental origin and behaviour during growth, homeostasis and injury responses.

Summary: Pluripotent cells with p53 mutations gain a competitive growth advantage via the apoptotic elimination of wild-type cells.

Highlighted Article: Functional analyses in the Xenopus retina reveal that NADPH oxidase controls the quiescence-to-proliferation transition of neural stem cells, by regulating the Wnt/Hedgehog signalling balance.

Highlighted Article: This study shows that retinal ganglion cell axon navigation to the contralateral brain hemisphere relies on the chemokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4.

Summary: Single cell sequencing during key stages of Drosophila organogenesis reveals expected and previously unreported developmental trajectories and functions of specialized cell types, and uncovers a potential role for proteolysis in germ cell specialization.

Highlighted Article: This study identifies BAIAP2 as a lissencephaly gene that plays a role in neuronal morphogenesis and migration during cortical development, shedding light on new disease-causing mechanisms.

Summary: Chromatin factors are mutated in the Cornelia de Lange craniofacial disorder. BRD4 binds cranial neural crest enhancers with transcription factors to activate osteoblast gene expression essential for facial bone formation.

Summary: Proteoglycan inhibition of BMP signalling in zebrafish cartilage regulates the timing of a common bone-forming process.

Summary: This study elucidates the mechanism of sensory nerve-progenitor crosstalk and reveals the molecular interaction of the FGF-SHH signaling cascade during tooth root morphogenesis.

Summary: Spherical harmonics analysis of 3D cell shapes allows quantitative characterization, comparison and classification of cell types and cell fate in a living developing organism.

Summary: A conditional rat model targeting the invasive trophoblast cell lineage has been generated that would be helpful in studying genes that play an important role during placental development.