Developmental Biology

ATAD2 mediates chromatin-bound histone chaperone turnover

1. Ariadni Liakopoulou
2. Fayçal Boussouar
3. Daniel Perazza
4. Sophie Barral
5. Emeline Lambert
6. Tao Wang
7. Florent Chuffart
8. Ekaterina Bourova-Flin
9. Charlyne Gard
10. Denis Puthier
11. Sophie Rousseaux
12. Christophe Arnoult
13. André Verdel
14. Saadi Khochbin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study explores the role of the chromatin regulator ATAD2 in mouse spermatogenesis. The data convincingly demonstrate that ATAD2 is essential for proper chromatin remodeling in haploid spermatids, influencing gene accessibility, H3.3-mediated transcription, and histone eviction. Using Atad2 knockout (KO) mice, the authors link ATAD2 to the DNA-replication-independent incorporation of sperm-specific proteins like protamines and histone H3.3. Although the findings highlight chromatin abnormalities and impaired in vitro fertilization in KO mice, natural fertility remains unaffected, suggesting possible in vivo compensatory mechanisms. Future experiments will be needed to tease out the precise molecular role of ATAD2 in spermatogenesis. This work will be of interest to the epigenetics and developmental fields.

Reviewed by eLife

Rtf1-dependent transcriptional pausing regulates cardiogenesis

1. Adam D. Langenbacher
2. Fei Lu
3. Luna Tsang
4. Zi Yi Stephanie Huang
5. Benjamin Keer
6. Zhiyu Tian
7. Alette Eide
8. Matteo Pellegrini
9. Haruko Nakano
10. Atsushi Nakano
11. Jau-Nian Chen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study shows that a controlled pause in gene reading is required for early heart cells to form during development. The authors demonstrate that loss of this pause prevents the proper activation of the heart-producing program across animal and stem cell systems. The evidence is compelling, supported by careful genomic and functional analyses that clearly define the developmental block. Overall, this work will interest developmental biologists and inspire further studies on the origins of early heart defects.

Reviewed by eLife

Developmental analysis of the cone photoreceptor-less little skate retina

1. Chetan C. Rangachar
2. Denice D. Moran
3. Mark M. Emerson

Reviewed by PREreview

Unravelling the progression of the zebrafish primary body axis with reconstructed spatiotemporal transcriptomics

1. Yang Dong
2. Tao Cheng
3. Xiang Liu
4. Xin-Xin Fu
5. Yang Hu
6. Xian-Fa Yang
7. Ling-En Yang
8. Hao-Ran Li
9. Zhi-Wen Bian
10. Naihe Jing
11. Jie Liao
12. Xiaohui Fan
13. Peng-Fei Xu

Reviewed by Review Commons

Hic2 fast-tracks iPS cell generation by suppressing KLF4-dependent epidermal detour

1. Meryam Beniazza
2. Masahito Yoshihara
3. Daniel F Kaemena
4. James Ashmore
5. Suling Zhao
6. Michael O’Dwyer
7. Emil Andersson
8. Victor Olariu
9. Shintaro Katayama
10. Abdenour Soufi
11. Kosuke Yusa
12. Keisuke Kaji

Reviewed by Review Commons

The Fd4 transcription factor translates transient spatial cues in progenitors into long-term lineage identity

1. Sen-Lin Lai
2. Chris Q Doe

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of neuronal diversity. Taking advantage of a well-defined neuroblast lineage in Drosophila, the authors provide convincing evidence that two transcription factors of the conserved forkhead box (FOX) family provide a mechanistic link between transient spatial cues that initially specify neuroblast identity and terminal selector genes that define post-mitotic neuron identity. The findings will be of interest to developmental neurobiologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Dosage-sensitive RBFOX2 autoregulation promotes cardiomyocyte differentiation by maturing the transcriptome

1. Mengmeng Huang
2. Feria A. Ladha
3. Yunxia Wang
4. Michael A. Trembley
5. Hui-Min Yin
6. Rongbin Zheng
7. Maksymilian Prondzynski
8. Yashavi Tharani
9. Alexander A. Akerberg
10. Stefan Aigner
11. Brian A. Yee
12. Joshua Mayourian
13. Sarah U. Morton
14. Vassilios J. Bezzerides
15. William T. Pu
16. Gene W. Yeo
17. Kaifu Chen
18. C. Geoffrey Burns
19. Caroline E. Burns

Reviewed by preLights

Direct lineage conversion of postnatal mouse cortical astrocytes to oligodendrocyte lineage cells

1. Justine Bajohr
2. Erica Y Scott
3. Arman Olfat
4. Mehrshad Sadria
5. Kevin Lee
6. Maria Fahim
7. Hiba T Taha
8. Daniela Lozano Casasbuenas
9. Ann Derham
10. Scott A Yuzwa
11. Gary D Bader
12. Maryam Faiz

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study provides a useful advance in generating mouse oligodendrocytes by direct lineage conversion from cortical astrocytes. The authors demonstrate that Sox10 converts astrocytes to MBP+ oligodendrocytes, whereas Olig2 expression converts astrocytes to PDFRalpha+ oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. The data supporting the conclusions are solid, but there are concerns regarding select figures and the absence of functional validation.

Reviewed by eLife

Brachyury expression levels predict lineage potential and axis-forming ability of in vitro derived neuromesodermal progenitors

1. Anahí Binagui-Casas
2. Anna Granés
3. Alberto Ceccarelli
4. Filip J. Wymeersch
5. Matthew French
6. Rosa Portero
7. Jen Annoh
8. Yali Huang
9. Eleni Karagianni
10. Frederick C.K. Wong
11. A. Sophie Brumm
12. Daniel Lopez Ramajo
13. Minoru Takasato
14. Sally Lowell
15. Osvaldo Chara
16. Valerie Wilson

Reviewed by Review Commons

Endothelial Slit2 guides the Robo1-positive sympathetic innervation during heart development

1. Juanjuan Zhao
2. Susann Bruche
3. Konstantinos Lekkos
4. Carolyn Carr
5. Joaquim Miguel Vieira
6. John Parnavelas
7. William D Andrews
8. Mathilda Mommersteeg

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents important findings on the role of Slit-Robo signaling in cardiac innervation. The evidence supporting the main claims of the authors is convincing. The use of several mouse models including constitutive and cell type specific knockout models make the findings more robust. The scope of the presented studies is fitting, as they primarily focus on evaluating the phenotypic changes in cardiac innervation following the loss of various Slit or Robo genes

Reviewed by eLife