RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
EDITORIAL
- A new society for regenerative biologists
Summary: We announce the launch of the International Society for Regenerative Biology – a new alliance for scientists interested in regenerative biology and its applications.
MEETING REVIEW
- Cellular plasticity at the nexus of development and disease
Summary: A summary of the October 2020 Keystone eSymposia ‘Tissue Plasticity: Preservation and Alteration of Cellular Identity’.
REVIEWS
- Gut innervation and enteric nervous system development: a spatial, temporal and molecular tour de force
Summary: This Review highlights the importance of gut innervation during embryonic development to assure proper gut function, specifically addressing the spatiotemporal and key molecular aspects along the longitudinal and circumferential axes of the gut.
- Stem cell quiescence: the challenging path to activation
Summary: This Review provides a perspective of the quiescent state of adult stem cells and discusses how recent technical advances could help overcome some of the challenges in the field.
- Aristotle, Buddhist scripture and embryology in ancient Mexico: building inclusion by re-thinking what counts as the history of developmental biology
Summary: This Review highlights the rich history of embryological thinking in Asia and Latin America, challenging the European-centric view of the history of scientific investigation and discovery in developmental biology.
STEM CELLS AND REGENERATION
- SMAD2 promotes myogenin expression and terminal myogenic differentiation
Highlighted Article: TGFβ and SMAD2 are normally associated with inhibition of myogenesis, but SMAD2 also has a pro-myogenic role during terminal myogenic differentiation, through regulation of Myog and Klf4 expression.
- Post-transcriptional regulation by the exosome complex is required for cell survival and forebrain development via repression of P53 signaling
Summary: Suppression of P53 signaling by the RNA-degrading exosome complex is essential for normal cell survival and brain development.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
- Caenorhabditis elegans establishes germline versus soma by balancing inherited histone methylation
Highlighted Article: Maternally deposited histone-modifying enzymes prevent the ectopic expression of germline genes in somatic tissues and developmental delay by regulating the inheritance of histone methylation.
- Dynein-dynactin segregate meiotic chromosomes in C. elegans spermatocytes
Summary: Characterization of a disease-associated p150Glued mutation in C. elegans reveals that the microtubule-based motor dynein drives the segregation of homologous chromosomes during spermatocyte meiosis.
- Brachyury controls Ciona notochord fate as part of a feed-forward network
Summary: In the simple chordate Ciona, the notochord-specific transcription factor Brachyury acts together with Foxa.a as part of a densely interlocked FGF-dependent feed-forward network.
- CAMSAP3 is required for mTORC1-dependent ependymal cell growth and lateral ventricle shaping in mouse brains
Highlighted Article: CAMSAP3, which mediates non-centrosomal microtubule assembly, is required for mTORC1-dependent maturation of ependymal cells at the neocortex of developing mouse brains. Loss of CAMSAP3 causes deformation of the lateral ventricles.
- Robustness and timing of cellular differentiation through population-based symmetry breaking
Highlighted Article: Description of a cell-cell communication mechanism that within a growing population of precursor cells autonomously achieves timing and subsequent differentiation into robust cell-type proportions, and ensures their reliable recovery upon perturbation.
- Tissue-resident macrophages regulate lymphatic vessel growth and patterning in the developing heart
Highlighted Article: Tissue-resident macrophages are indispensable mediators of lymphatic vessel formation during heart development, and function to remodel the vascular plexus.
- Rab11fip5 regulates telencephalon development via ephrinB1 recycling
Summary: Rab11fip5, genetic mutations of which are associated with autism spectrum disorders in humans, plays a role in regulating telencephalon development via recycling of the crucial cargo ephrinB1.
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An interview with Swathi Arur
Swathi Arur joined the team at Development as an Academic Editor in 2020. Her lab uses multidisciplinary approaches to understand female germline development and fertility. We met with her over Zoom to hear more about her life, her career and her love for C. elegans.
Jim Wells and Hanna Mikkola join our team of Editors
We are pleased to welcome James (Jim) Wells and Hanna Mikkola to our team of Editors. Jim joins us a new Academic Editor, taking over from Gordan Keller, and Hanna joins our team of Associate Editors. Find out more about their research interests and areas of expertise.
New funding scheme supports sustainable events
As part of our Sustainable Conferencing Initiative, we are pleased to announce funding for organisers that seek to reduce the environmental footprint of their event. The next deadline to apply for a Scientific Meeting grant is 26 March 2021.
Read & Publish participation continues to grow
“I’d heard of Read & Publish deals and knew that many universities, including mine, had signed up to them but I had not previously understood the benefits that these deals bring to authors who work at those universities.”
Professor Sally Lowell (University of Edinburgh) shares her experience of publishing Open Access as part of our growing Read & Publish initiative. We now have over 150 institutions in 15 countries and four library consortia taking part – 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. Here, Brandon Carpenter talks about how inherited histone methylation defines the germline versus soma decision in C. elegans.
Sign up to join our next session:
10 March
Time: TBC
Chaired by: Thomas Lecuit