Issues

Summary: This Review summarizes how recent studies of embryo models have advanced our understanding of cell state transitions of the pluripotent human epiblast and highlights some key remaining questions in the field.

Highlighted Article: Fusion-competent cytotrophoblasts undergo dynamic changes in cell morphology, including the acquisition of apically localized microvilli, the stabilization of which facilitates effective fusion and differentiation.

Summary: Regeneration of the intestinal epithelium relies on a hierarchical stem cell model involving a previously unreported lineage of reserve stem cells in addition to the plasticity model.

Summary: Zygotes and early embryos of Arabidopsis thaliana show a maternal transcriptome bias that is likely due to preferential transcription of maternal alleles in the zygote instead of inheritance of egg cell transcripts.

Summary: This study provides insights into the mechanisms of gametogenesis in Platynereis dumerilii through comparative transcriptomics, unveiling conserved and novel sex-biased genes governing this largely unexplored process.

Highlighted Article: The identification of previously unknown Six1 targets, the molecular mechanisms that mediate Six1 function in the developing ear and potential candidates for human congenital deafness.

Highlighted Article: Depletion of Papilin leads to an increase in haemocyte differentiation and a collapse of lymph gland structure, partly through interaction with perlecan and the EGFR signalling pathway, revealing an essential role for Papilin in Drosophila blood progenitor maintenance.

Summary: IGF2 signaling to the thymic cortical epithelium drives a rapid expansion during the fetal and perinatal stages, while its downregulation causes a transition to thymic homeostasis in an evolutionarily conserved fashion.

Summary: In vitro application of specific inhibitors of HDAC4 mimics the effects of luteinizing hormone to promote porcine oocyte maturation and improve the output of in vitro maturation.

Summary: Gene expression and single-cell transcriptome analysis characterize three subpopulations in the shell field of gastropods and reveal their autonomous specification mechanism without induction from other quartets.

Summary: A stable hamp knockout zebrafish model created using the CRISPR/Cas9 system reveals how hamp influences hematopoietic differentiation and offers new insights into potential therapeutic targets for blood disorders.

Summary: Demonstration of a method for quantifying 3D proliferation staining from light-sheet microscopy data, directly relating proliferation patterns to morphology over a developmental time series in the mouse embryo and showing that this method is able to separate mutant and wild-type embryos.