Developmental Biology

Endosomal-lysosomal organellar assembly (ELYSA) structures coordinate lysosomal degradation systems through mammalian oocyte-to-embryo transition

1. Yuhkoh Satouh
2. Takaki Tatebe
3. Isei Tanida
4. Junji Yamaguchi
5. Yasuo Uchiyama
6. Ken Sato

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper reports important findings on giant organelle complexes containing endosomes and lysosomes (termed endosomal-lysosomal organelles form assembly structures [ELYSAs]) present in mouse oocytes and 1- to 2-cell embryos. The data showing the localization and dynamics of ELYSAs during oocyte/embryo maturation are convincing. This work will be of interest to general cell biologists and developmental biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Combined forces of hydrostatic pressure and actin polymerization drive endothelial tip cell migration and sprouting angiogenesis

1. Igor Kondrychyn
2. Liqun He
3. Haymar Wint
4. Christer Betsholtz
5. Li-Kun Phng

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study convincingly shows that aquaporin-mediated cell migration plays a key role in blood vessel formation during zebrafish development. In particular, the paper implicates hydrostatic pressure and water flow as mechanisms controlling endothelial cell migration during angiogenic sprouting. This fundamental study is highly novel and significantly advances our understanding of cell migration during morphogenesis. As such, this work will be of great interest to developmental and cell biologists working on organogenesis, angiogenesis, and cell migration.

Reviewed by eLife

Impaired yolk sac NAD metabolism disrupts murine embryogenesis with relevance to human birth defects

1. Kayleigh Bozon
2. Hartmut Cuny
3. Delicia Z Sheng
4. Ella MMA Martin
5. Alena Sipka
6. Paul Young
7. David T Humphreys
8. Sally L Dunwoodie

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  NAD deficiency perturbs embryonic development resulting in multiple congenital malformations, collectively termed Congenital NAD Deficiency Disorder (CNDD). The authors report fundamental findings demonstrating that extra-embryonic visceral yolk sac endoderm is critical for NAD de novo synthesis during early organogenesis and perturbations of this pathway may underlie CNDD. The authors combine gene expression with metabolic assays to provide solid evidence of an essential role of the extra-embryonic visceral yolk sac in both mouse and human embryos.

Reviewed by eLife

Single-nucleus multiomics reveals the gene regulatory networks underlying sex determination of murine primordial germ cells

1. Adriana K Alexander
2. Karina F Rodriguez
3. Yu-Ying Chen
4. Ciro Amato
5. Martin A Estermann
6. Barbara Nicol
7. Xin Xu
8. Humphrey HC Yao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports single-nucleus multiomics-based profiling of transcriptome and chromatin accessibility of mouse XX and XY primordial germ cells (PGCs). The main conclusions of this study, which will be of interest to developmental and reproductive biologists, as well as andrologists, are supported by convincing data.

Reviewed by eLife

Early coordination of cell migration and cardiac fate determination during mammalian gastrulation

1. Shayma Abukar
2. Peter A Embacher
3. Alessandro Ciccarelli
4. Sunita Varsani-Brown
5. Isabel G W North
6. Jamie A Dean
7. James Briscoe
8. Kenzo Ivanovitch

Reviewed by Review Commons

UNC-6/Netrin promotes both adhesion and directed growth within a single axon

1. Ev L Nichols
2. Joo Lee
3. Kang Shen

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  These studies make a fundamental contribution to our understanding of axon-guidance mechanisms, focusing on the role of UNC-6/Netrin in the long-range growth and targeting of axons. Using state-of-the-art genetics and in vivo imaging, the authors provide compelling support for the finding that UNC-6/Netrin can act via both chemotaxis and haptotaxis. This work will be of interest to a wide variety of cell and developmental biologists and neuroscientists.

Reviewed by eLife

GLE1 dysfunction compromises cellular homeostasis, spatial organization, and peripheral axon branching

1. T Zárybnický
2. S Lindfors
3. S Metso
4. Z Szabo
5. R Valtonen
6. M Tulppo
7. J Magga
8. S Saarimäki
9. S Bläuer
10. I Miinalainen
11. R Kerkelä
12. J Väänänen
13. R Kivelä
14. FP Zhang
15. P Sipilä
16. R Hinttala
17. S Kuure

Reviewed by Review Commons

Mechanical forces pattern endocardial Notch activation via mTORC2-PKC pathway

1. Yunfei Mu
2. Shijia Hu
3. Xiangyang Liu
4. Xin Tang
5. Jiayi Lin
6. Hongjun Shi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Notch1 is expressed uniformly throughout the mouse endocardium during the initial stages of heart valve formation, yet it remains unclear how Notch signaling is activated specifically in the AVC region to induce valve formation. To answer this question, the authors used a combination of in vivo and ex vivo experiments in mice to demonstrate ligand-independent activation of Notch1 by circulation induced-mechanical stress and provide evidence for stimulation of a novel mechanotransduction pathway involving post-translational modification of mTORC2 and Protein Kinase C (PKC) upstream of Notch1. These findings represent an important advance in our understanding of valve formation and the conclusions are supported by convincing data.

Reviewed by eLife

Integration of ATAC and RNA-sequencing identifies chromatin and transcriptomic signatures in classical and non-classical zebrafish osteoblasts and indicates mechanisms of entpd5a regulation

1. Kleio Petratou
2. Martin Stehling
3. Ferenc Müller
4. Stefan Schulte-Merker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental work describes for the first time the combined gene expression and chromatin structure at the genome level in isolated chondrocytes and classical (cranial) and non-classical (notochordal) osteoblasts. In a compelling analysis of RNA-Seq and ATAC data, the authors characterize the two osteoblast populations relative to their associated chondrocyte cells and further proceed with a convincing analysis of the crucial entpd5a gene regulatory elements by investigating their respective transcriptional activity and specificity in developing zebrafish.

Reviewed by eLife

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 Scholer

• 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