Subject collection: Neural development
- Pvr receptor tyrosine kinase signaling promotes post-embryonic morphogenesis, and survival of glia and neural progenitor cells in Drosophila
Summary: In Drosophila, neuroblasts and cortex glia use a receptor tyrosine kinase-dependent feed-forward mechanism to actively maintain each other during neurogenesis, which contributes to glial tumorigenesis.
- The Ric-8A/Gα13/FAK signalling cascade controls focal adhesion formation during neural crest cell migration in Xenopus
Summary: Ric-8A-mediated Gα13 signalling, through Src and FAK, organizes the cortical actin cytoskeleton, and regulates focal adhesion properties and protrusion formation in Xenopus.
- Comparative genomic analysis of embryonic, lineage-converted and stem cell-derived motor neurons
Highlighted Article: Motor neurons made by stem cell differentiation and lineage conversion are highly similar to their primary counterparts, yet carry distinct differences that can impact their utility in translational studies.
- Exploring landscapes of brain morphogenesis with organoids
Summary: This Spotlight summarizes the themes that emerged from a recent workshop organized by The Company of Biologists on ‘Thinking beyond the dish: taking in vitro neural differentiation to the next level’, highlighting the limitations and potential applications of organoid-based technologies.
- TWE-PRIL reverse signalling suppresses sympathetic axon growth and tissue innervation
Summary: In vivo and in vitro studies of superior cervical ganglion neurons of April−/− mice reveal that TWE-PRIL is a physiological regulator of NGF-promoted sympathetic axon growth, acting as a reverse signalling receptor.
- Inhibition of cell fate repressors secures the differentiation of the touch receptor neurons of Caenorhabditis elegans
Summary: ZAG-1, a ZEB family transcription factor, safeguards fate specification of C. elegans touch receptor neurons by inhibiting a TEA domain-containing repressor, revealing its role in neuronal fate choice.
- Notch signalling patterns retinal composition by regulating atoh7 during post-embryonic growth
Summary: Mutually exclusive activity of Notch and Atoh7 in the ciliary marginal zone gives rise to two distinct lineages resulting in specification of the full complement of cell types in medaka retina.
- Neurogenesis in the sea urchin embryo is initiated uniquely in three domains
Summary: Patterning signals in the three territories in which neurogenesis is initiated during sea urchin gastrulation differentially affect proneural expression of six transcription factors resulting in three unique specification trajectories.
- Neuromesodermal progenitors are a conserved source of spinal cord with divergent growth dynamics
Highlighted Article: A complete lineage analysis of neuromesodermal progenitors in zebrafish through a combination of genetic clonal labelling, forward fate mapping and in toto imaging.
- A centrosomal view of CNS growth
Summary: This Review discusses the multiple roles played by centrosomes during embryonic growth of the vertebrate central nervous system, highlighting the links between centrosome dysfunction and microcephaly.