Table of Contents
EDITORIAL
- Human development: recent progress and future prospects
Summary: Our second Special Issue on human development highlights recent progress in this field, new technologies that have contributed to this progress and some of the ethical issues to consider.
SPOTLIGHTS
- Gene editing in human development: ethical concerns and practical applications
Summary: This Spotlight summarizes some of the ethical considerations associated with the use of gene-editing techniques in human embryos and embryo-like entities, highlighting the need for open and informed debate.
- On the origin of the human germline
Summary: This Spotlight discusses the use of new in vitro models to study the origin of human primordial germ cells, prompting further consideration of the somatic cell fate decisions that occur during early human development.
- Developmentally inspired human ‘organs on chips’
Summary: This Spotlight discusses the central role that developmental biology played in the early stages of organ-chip technology development and how such technology has provided insights into human physiology and disease mechanisms.
REVIEW
- Human lung development: recent progress and new challenges
Summary: This Review describes how recent technological advances have shed light on the mechanisms underlying human lung development and disease, and outlines the future challenges in this field.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
- Single-cell analysis of progenitor cell dynamics and lineage specification in the human fetal kidney
Summary: New markers for specific cell types in the developing human kidney are identified and computational approaches infer developmental trajectories and interrogate the complex network of signaling pathways and cellular transitions.
- Modeling human somite development and fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva with induced pluripotent stem cells
Summary: Protocols for the differentiation of human iPSCs to somite derivatives (myotome, sclerotome, syndetome and dermatome) are developed and applied to the modeling of the bone disease fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
- Understanding human fetal pancreas development using subpopulation sorting, RNA sequencing and single-cell profiling
Summary: This study develops sorting strategies to isolate specific pancreatic populations and use single-cell profiling to evaluate whether pancreatic cells derived from hPSCs mirror the process occurring in human fetuses.
- Dynamic regulation of NOTCH1 activation and Notch ligand expression in human thymus development
Summary: Here, through immunohistochemistry and quantitative confocal microscopy of fetal, postnatal and adult thymus, we show that spatiotemporal regulation of Notch ligand expression in the human thymus controls niche-specific NOTCH1 signals required for dynamic T-cell development.
- Three-dimensional induction of dorsal, intermediate and ventral spinal cord tissues from human pluripotent stem cells
Summary: The three-dimensional induction of dorsal, intermediate and ventral spinal cord-like tissues from human pluripotent stem cells described provides a useful experimental tool for studying human spinal cord development.
- Neural differentiation, selection and transcriptomic profiling of human neuromesodermal progenitor-like cells in vitro
Summary: The first transcriptome profiling of human neuromesodermal progenitor-like cells, generation of human spinal cord progenitors from these cells and a GFP-reporter for Nkx1.2 in human embryonic stem cells.
- Integrin α2 marks a niche of trophoblast progenitor cells in first trimester human placenta
Summary: ITGA2 marks a proliferative trophoblast progenitor compartment in first trimester human placenta that appears to be regulated by NOTCH signalling and exhibits a unique combination of epithelial and mesenchymal expression characteristics.
- Distinct prophase arrest mechanisms in human male meiosis
Summary: Histological examination and transcriptomic analysis of human meiosis-arrested spermatocytes reveals two prophase arrest mechanisms, each associated with distinct gene expression profiles implicating the involvement of different biological processes.
This issue
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Special Issue – Human Development
Our special issue on ‘Human Development’ is now out! Highlights from the issue include:
Spotlight – Gene editing in human development: ethical concerns and practical applications
Janet Rossant summarises some of the ethical considerations associated with the use of gene-editing techniques in human embryos and embryo-like entities, highlighting the need for open and informed debate.
Spotlight – On the origin of the human germline
Toshihiro Kobayashi and Azim Surani discuss the use of new in vitro models to study the origin of human primordial germ cells, prompting further consideration of the somatic cell fate decisions that occur during early human development.
Spotlight – Developmentally inspired human ‘organs on chips’
Donald E. Ingber highlights the central role that developmental biology played in the early stages of organ-chip technology development and how such technology has provided insights into human physiology and disease mechanisms.
Review – Human lung development: recent progress and new challenges
Emma Rawlins and colleagues review recent technological advances that have shed light on the mechanisms underlying human lung development and disease, outlining future challenges in this field.
Call for papers – Development at the single cell level
Development is pleased to welcome submissions for an upcoming special issue on ‘Development at the single cell level’, guest-edited by Allon Klein and Barbara Treutlein. This special issue aims to showcase the best research in stem cell and developmental biology, building on the rapidly evolving tools of single cell analysis. Submission deadline: 31 October 2018.
Journal news – publishing peer review reports
Development, along with our sister journal Journal of Cell Science, has signed an open letter coordinated by ASAPbio signalling our intention to publish peer review reports alongside published papers. Find out more over on the Node.
Axon guidance relies on the reception and integration of molecular cues from the environment by growth cones, and defective pathfinding results in misplaced projection patterns in the mature nervous system. A recent Research Article investigates this process in the Drosophila neuromucular system, as well as the consequences of axonal miswiring to locomotion. The Node caught up with lead author Jaqueline Kinold and her supervisor Hermann Aberle.
preLights – Simultaneous production of diverse neuronal subtypes during early corticogenesis
How does the amazing diversity of cortical neurons emerge during development? Boyan Bonev highlights a recent preprint from Denis Jabaudon and colleagues suggesting that during early stages distinct types are simultaneously produced, while later on neuronal production is homogenous and sequential.
Articles of interest in our sister journals
Novel role for Grainy head in the regulation of cytoskeletal and junctional dynamics during epithelial repair
Inês Cristo, Lara Carvalho, Susana Ponte, António Jacinto. J Cell Sci 2018 131: jcs213595
The continuing evolution of publishing in the biological sciences
Steven Kelly. Biology Open 2018 7: bio037325