Meeting report – The endoderm from a diverse perspective

N. Ray Dunn and Brigid L. M. Hogan look back at the ‘Endoderm Development and Disease’ Keystone Symposium, held in Taos, New Mexico, in February 2018. The meeting emphasized the importance of using a variety of models, including organoids, for gaining a more complete understanding of endoderm development.

Review – piRNAs and PIWI proteins: regulators of gene expression in development and stem cells

A role for Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) in the regulation of endogenous gene expression challenges dogma in the piRNA field. Patricia Rojas-Ríos and Martine Simonelig review recent data addressing the biological and developmental functions of piRNAs.

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.

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.

The people behind the papers – Guillaume Blin, Manuel Thery & Sally Lowell

During early mouse development, breaking the symmetry of the egg cylinder spatially organises the embryo into territories that define the future axes of the body. ESC colonies cultured on micropatterned substrates also demonstrate this symmetry breaking, and a recent Research Article describes the use this system to test the role of geometry in symmetry breaking. The Node caught up with three of the paper’s authors – Guillaume Blin, Manuel Thery and Sally Lowell – to hear all about the history.

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.

We are also pleased to announce that recent preLights selected for the developmental biology community will feature regularly as part of our issue Table of Contents.

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