Developmental Biology

Emerging cooperativity between Oct4 and Sox2 governs the pluripotency network in early mouse embryos

1. Yanlin Hou
2. Zhengwen Nie
3. Qi Jiang
4. Sergiy Velychko
5. Sandra Heising
6. Ivan Bedzhov
7. Guangming Wu
8. Kenjiro Adachi
9. Hans R. Schöler

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable finding on how the interplay between transcription factors SOX2 and OCT4 establishes the pluripotency network in early mouse embryos. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid, although inclusion of additional omics data would further strengthen the study. The work will be of interest to biologists working on embryonic development and gene regulation.

Reviewed by eLife

Planar cell polarity coordination in a cnidarian embryo provides clues to animal body axis evolution

1. Julie Uveira
2. Antoine Donati
3. Marvin Léria
4. Marion Lechable
5. François Lahaye
6. Christine Vesque
7. Evelyn Houliston
8. Tsuyoshi Momose

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This analysis of the formation of the oral-aboral body axis in cnidarians, the sister group of bilaterians, is a significant and fundamental contribution to the field of Wnt signalling and planar cell polarity. The evidence supporting the conclusions is compelling and has the potential to contribute to a deeper understanding of the origin and evolution of Wnt signalling in metazoans. These findings will be of broad interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Sex chromosomes shape the transcriptional landscape of the preimplantation mouse embryo

1. Daniel M. Snell
2. Wazeer Varsally
3. Aurélien Courtois
4. Sergio Menchero
5. Prabhakaran Munusamy
6. Richelle Rietdijk
7. Obah A. Ojarikre
8. Stephanie Strohbuecker
9. Haskan Kaya
10. Mahesh N. Sangrithi
11. James M.A. Turner

Reviewed by preLights

The chromatin remodeler DEK promotes proliferation of mammary epithelium and is associated with H3K27me3 epigenetic modifications

1. Megan Johnstone
2. Ashley Leck
3. Taylor Lange
4. Katherine Wilcher
5. Miranda S. Shephard
6. Aditi Paranjpe
7. Sophia Schutte
8. Susanne Wells
9. Ferdinand Kappes
10. Nathan Salomonis
11. Lisa M. Privette Vinnedge

Reviewed by Review Commons

Gene regulatory dynamics during craniofacial development in a carnivorous marsupial

1. Laura E Cook
2. Charles Y Feigin
3. John Hills
4. Davide M Vespasiani
5. Andrew J Pask
6. Irene Gallego Romero

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study of regulatory elements and gene expression in the craniofacial region of the fat-tailed dunnart shows that, compared to placental mammals, marsupial craniofacial tissue develops in a precocious manner, with enhancer regulatory elements as primary driver of this difference. While the results are overall solid, addressing concerns regarding the liftover methods in the context of low conservation of alignable enhancers between dunnart and mouse would benefit the work, enhancing its value for uncovering mechanisms that drive heterochronic processes and as a reference for future mammalian evolution studies.

Reviewed by eLife

Identification of neurodevelopmental organization of the cell populations of juvenile Huntington’s disease using dorso-ventral HD organoids and HD mouse embryos

1. Karolina Świtońska-Kurkowska
2. Jakub Kubiś
3. Joanna Delimata-Raczek
4. Bart Krist
5. Magda Surdyka
6. Żaneta Kalinowska-Pośka
7. Piotr Piasecki
8. Luiza Handschuh
9. Jan Podkowiński
10. Magdalena Rakoczy
11. Anna Samelak-Czajka
12. Michael Hayden
13. Nicholas S Caron
14. Maciej Figiel

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript describes the generation of a fused dorsal-ventral organoid system to model interactions between the cortex and striatum to study the onset and progression of Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. While this approach is valuable, further methodological and analytical work is needed to fully support the interpretations and claims of the authors. Incomplete evidence suggests choroid plexus (ChP) abnormalities form a significant component of HD pathogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Chromosomal Instability in Human Trophoblast Stem Cells and Placentas

1. Danyang Wang
2. Andrew Cearlock
3. Katherine Lane
4. Ian Jan
5. Rajiv McCoy
6. Min Yang

Reviewed by preLights

Branched actin polymerization drives invasive protrusion formation to promote myoblast fusion during skeletal muscle regeneration

1. Yue Lu
2. Tezin Walji
3. Pratima Pandey
4. Chuanli Zhou
5. Christa W Habela
6. Scott B Snapper
7. Rong Li
8. Elizabeth H Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable finding regarding the role of Arp2/3 and the actin nucleators N-WASP and WAVE complexes in myoblast fusion. The data presented is convincing, but it is suggested to perform validation of the knock-down efficiency of the mouse model and making adjustments to some of the data interpretation. The work will be of interest to biologists studying skeletal muscle stem cell biology in the context of skeletal muscle regeneration.

Reviewed by eLife

An increase in reactive oxygen species underlies neonatal cerebellum repair

1. Anna Pakula
2. Salsabiel El Nagar
3. N Sumru Bayin
4. Jens Bager Christensen
5. Daniel N Stephen
6. Adam James Reid
7. Richard Koche
8. Alexandra L Joyner

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important work substantially advances our understanding of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a regenerative signal during postnatal cerebellum repair by activating adaptive progenitor reprogramming. The evidence supporting the conclusions is generally compelling, although addressing reviewers' comments would further strengthen the study. This work will be of broad interest to biologists working on stem cells, neurodevelopment and regenerative medicine.

Reviewed by eLife

NR2F2 is required in the embryonic testis for Fetal Leydig Cell development

1. Aitana Perea-Gomez
2. Natividad Bellido-Carreras
3. Magali Dhellemmes
4. Furong Tang
5. Coralie Le Gallo
6. Marie-Christine Chaboissier

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reveals a critical role of the transcription factor NR2F2 in mouse fetal Leydig cell (FLC) differentiation. With elegantly carried out experiments, the authors provide compelling evidence that NR2F2 helps to initiate the differentiation of certain interstitial cells into FLC until these cells mature into functional secretory cells that produce androgen and insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3). The particular importance of the work comes from the fact that NR2F2 affects FLCs without altering paracrine signals known to be involved in FLC differentiation. The work will be of interest to colleagues studying reproductive development in mammals including humans or the biological functions of the nuclear receptor family.

Reviewed by eLife