IN THIS ISSUE
SPOTLIGHTS
- An interview with Cheryll Tickle
Summary: Developmental biologist Cheryll Tickle chats about her research, the new British Society for Developmental Biology medal awarded in her honour and how the field has changed during her career.
- An interview with Abigail Tucker
Summary: Abigail Tucker, winner of the first Cheryll Tickle Medal, discusses her research on craniofacial development and the challenges and rewards of working with emerging model systems.
REVIEWS
- Lineage specification in the mouse preimplantation embryo
Summary: This Review discusses recent advances in live imaging, computational modelling and single cell analyses that provide insights into how the first three cell lineages of the mouse embryo are generated.
- Stars from the darkest night: unlocking the neurogenic potential of astrocytes in different brain regions
Summary: This Review discusses the extent to which astrocytes in different brain regions can behave as neural stem cells, and the molecular and environmental factors that either promote or repress such activity.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
- Antagonism between Gdf6a and retinoic acid pathways controls timing of retinal neurogenesis and growth of the eye in zebrafish
Summary: In the vertebrate eye, dorsally expressed Gdf6a limits RA pathway activity to control the transition from proliferation to differentiation, thereby regulating eye size.
- The ciliary marginal zone of the zebrafish retina: clonal and time-lapse analysis of a continuously growing tissue
Summary: A quantitative study of cell proliferation and fate choice in the zebrafish retina - a continuously growing neural tissue - reveals key features of late retinal neurogenesis.
- The Myb-domain protein ULTRAPETALA1 INTERACTING FACTOR 1 controls floral meristem activities in Arabidopsis
Summary: ULT1 and its novel partner protein ULT1 INTERACTING FACTOR 1 (UIF1) regulate floral meristem homeostasis, probably via direct repression of WUS expression.
RESEARCH REPORT
- The coordination of ploidy and cell size differs between cell layers in leaves
Summary: The well-known correlation between ploidy and cell volume in the leaf epidermis is not seen in leaf palisade mesophyll cells, indicating that cell identity influences this correlation.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Mutations in the murine homologue of TUBB5 cause microcephaly by perturbing cell cycle progression and inducing p53-associated apoptosis
Highlighted article: New mouse models reveal that human disease-causing mutations in the β-tubulin gene Tubb5 lead to defects in mitotic progression and massive cell death in the cortex.
- Tumor protein Tctp regulates axon development in the embryonic visual system
Highlighted article: The cancer-associated protein Tctp controls neural circuitry in Xenopus via its regulation of pro-survival signalling and axonal mitochondrial homeostasis.
- Progressive developmental restriction, acquisition of left-right identity and cell growth behavior during lobe formation in mouse liver development
Highlighted article: A retrospective clonal analysis of mouse liver development reveals progressive developmental restriction, the acquisition of chirality and distinct cell growth behaviors.
- G2 phase arrest prevents bristle progenitor self-renewal and synchronizes cell division with cell fate differentiation
Summary: During Drosophila sensory organ development, G2-phase arrest serves a dual role: it prevents progenitor self-renewal and it synchronizes cell division with developmental signals.
- Drosophila astrocytes cover specific territories of the CNS neuropil and are instructed to differentiate by Prospero, a key effector of Notch
Summary: Clonal analyses of the origins and organization of astrocytes in the Drosophila CNS reveal a regulatory program that acts as a binary switch to distinguish astrocytes from other glial cells.
- EFN-4 functions in LAD-2-mediated axon guidance in Caenorhabditis elegans
Summary: The C. elegans EFN-4 ephrin acts as a soluble factor to direct axon guidance via LAD2, a divergent L1 cell adhesion molecule that probably functions as a non-canonical receptor for EFN-4.
- Grainyhead-like 2 downstream targets act to suppress epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition during neural tube closure
Summary: The transcription factor Grhl2 activates novel EMT suppressors along with epithelial junctional proteins to robustly promote epithelial integrity during neural tube closure in mice.
- Retinoic acid-induced premature osteoblast-to-preosteocyte transitioning has multiple effects on calvarial development
Summary: Increased RA levels in developing zebrafish have multiple effects on skull formation, ranging from gain to loss of bone, and depending on allelic strength, developmental stage and cellular context.
TECHNIQUES AND RESOURCES
- Genome-wide analysis of spatiotemporal gene expression patterns during early embryogenesis in rice
Summary: Using laser capture micro-dissection followed by array hybridization, the temporal and spatial gene expression changes occurring during rice embryogenesis are captured.
CORRECTIONS
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Kathryn Virginia Anderson (1952-2020)
Developmental geneticist Kathryn Anderson passed away at home on 30 November 2020. Tamara Caspary, a former postdoc and friend, remembers Kathryn and her remarkable contribution to developmental biology.
Zooming into 2021
In a new Editorial, Editor-in-Chief James Briscoe and Executive Editor Katherine Brown reflect on the triumphs and tribulations of the last 12 months, and look towards a hopefully calmer and more predictable year.
Read & Publish participation extends worldwide
Over 60 institutions in 12 countries are now participating in our Read & Publish initiative. Here, James Briscoe explains what this means for his institution, The Francis Crick Institute. Find out more and view our full list of participating institutions.
Upcoming special issues
Imaging Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration
Submission deadline: 30 March 2021
Publication: mid-2021
The Immune System in Development and Regeneration
Guest editors: Florent Ginhoux and Paul Martin
Submission deadline: 1 September 2021
Publication: Spring 2022
Both special issues welcome Review articles as well as Research articles, and will be widely promoted online and at key global conferences.
Development presents...
Our successful webinar series continues into 2021, with early-career researchers presenting their papers and a chance to virtually network with the developmental biology community afterwards. Sign up to join our next session:
10 February
Time: 13:00 (GMT)
Chaired by: preLights