Developmental Biology

Pleiotropic function of Dlx5/6 in coordinating the development of mammalian vocal and auditory organs

1. Frida Sánchez-Garrido
2. Victoria Bouzerand
3. Markéta Kaiser
4. Chloé Chaumeton
5. Anastasia Fontaine
6. Tomáš Zikmund
7. Jozef Kaiser
8. Églantine Heude

Reviewed by Review Commons

Zebrafish Foxl2l suppresses stemness of germline progenitors and directs feminization

1. Chen-wei Hsu
2. Hao Ho
3. Ching-Hsin Yang
4. Yan-wei Wang
5. Ker-Chau Li
6. Bon-chu Chung

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript provides important findings for understanding the mechanisms of a major gene causing the gonad of fish and other vertebrates, including mammals, to become an ovary rather than a testis. Evidence is solid, but alternative explanations for a number of the claims must be considered and discussed. The impact of the work would benefit by placing it in a richer historical context.

Reviewed by eLife

Shc1 cooperates with Frs2 and Shp2 to recruit Grb2 in FGF-induced lens development

1. Qian Wang
2. Hongge Li
3. Yingyu Mao
4. Ankur Garg
5. Eun Sil Park
6. Yihua Wu
7. Alyssa Chow
8. John Peregrin
9. Xin Zhang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental article significantly advances our understanding of FGF signalling, and in particular highlights the complex modifications affecting this pathway. The evidence for the authors' claims is convincing, combining state of the art conditional gene deletion in the mouse lens with histological and molecular approaches. This work should be of great interest to molecular and developmental biologists beyond the lens community.

Reviewed by eLife

Molecular dynamics of the matrisome across sea anemone life history

1. B Gideon Bergheim
2. Alison G Cole
3. Mandy Rettel
4. Frank Stein
5. Stefan Redl
6. Michael W Hess
7. Aissam Ikmi
8. Suat Özbek

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides a comprehensive description of the Nematostella vectensis matrisome - the genes encoding the proteins of the extracellular matrix. The authors combine new mass spectrometry data with bioinformatic analyses of previously published genomic and single-cell RNAseq data. Although this work will be of interest to biologists working on the evolution of the matrisome, as well as more broadly those working with non-bilaterian animals, in its current state it is incomplete due to the lack of rigorous criteria for manual curation and comprehensive annotation of the predicted matrisome.

Reviewed by eLife

MMP21 behaves as a fluid flow transported morphogen to impart laterality during development

1. Tim Ott
2. Amelie Brugger
3. Emmanuelle Szenker-Ravi
4. Yvonne Kurrle
5. Olivia Aberle
6. Matthias Tisler
7. Martin Blum
8. Sandra Whalen
9. Patrice Bouvagnet
10. Bruno Reversade
11. Axel Schweickert

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This report explores the role of matrix metalloprotease MMP21 in left-right patterning in Xenopus. Based on a series of compelling experiments, the authors demonstrate that MMP21 can be secreted and acts upstream of dand5 without affecting cilia flow. The experiments are interesting and valuable; however, the claims by the authors lack consideration of other models that could also explain their findings.

Reviewed by eLife

Numb provides a fail-safe mechanism for intestinal stem cell self-renewal in adult Drosophila midgut

1. Mengjie Li
2. Aiguo Tian
3. Jin Jiang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The authors examine the role of Numb, a Notch inhibitor, in intestinal stem cell self-renewal in Drosophila during homeostasis and regeneration. The significance is important as the authors demonstrate the ISC maintenance is reduced when both BMP signaling and Numb expression is reduced. The strength of evidence is convincing as large sample sizes and statistical analyses are provided.

Reviewed by eLife

Conserved interhemispheric morphogenesis in amniotes preceded the evolution of the corpus callosum

1. Ryota Noji
2. Mari Kaneko
3. Takaya Abe
4. Hiroshi Kiyonari
5. Yukihiro Nishikawa
6. Takuma Kumamoto
7. Hitoshi Gotoh
8. Chiaki Ohtaka-Maruyama
9. Katsuhiko Ono
10. Tatsuya Yoshizawa
11. Tadashi Nomura

Reviewed by Review Commons

Oviductin sets the species-specificity of the mammalian zona pellucida

1. Daniel de la Fuente
2. Maria Maroto
3. Yulia N Cajas
4. Karina Cañón-Beltrán
5. Raul Fernandez-Gonzalez
6. Ana Munoz-Maceda
7. Juana M Sanchez-Puig
8. Rafael Blasco
9. Paula Cots
10. Manuel Aviles
11. Dimitrios Rizos
12. Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study unravels the mechanisms underlying mammalian sperm-oocyte recognition and penetration, shedding light on cross-species interactions. It provides solid evidence that exposure of sperm to oviductal fluid or OVGP1 proteins from bovine, murine, or human sources imparts species-specific zona pellucida (ZP) recognition, ensuring that only sperm from the corresponding species can penetrate the ZP, regardless of its origin. These findings hold significant potential for reproductive biology, offering insights to enhance porcine in vitro fertilization (IVF), which frequently suffers from polyspermy, as well as advancing human IVF through improved intrinsic sperm selection.

Reviewed by eLife

Identification of Specialized tRNA Expression in Early Human Brain Development

1. Alex L. Bagi
2. Todd M. Lowe
3. Sofie R. Salama

Reviewed by Life Science Editors Foundation

A library of lineage-specific driver lines connects developing neuronal circuits to behavior in the Drosophila Ventral Nerve Cord

1. Jelly HM Soffers
2. Erin Beck
3. Daniel J. Sytkowski
4. Marianne E. Maughan
5. Devarakonda Devasri
6. Yi Zhu
7. Beth Wilson
8. Yu-Chieh David Chen
9. Ted Erclik
10. James W. Truman
11. James B. Skeath
12. Haluk Lacin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This work presents an important genetic toolkit for Drosophila neurobiologists to access and manipulate neuronal lineages during development and adulthood. The evidence supporting the fidelity of this toolkit is convincing. This work will interest Drosophila neurobiologists in general, and some of the genetic tools may be used outside the nervous system. The conceptual approaches used in this paper are likely transferable to other fields as comparable data and genomic methods are obtained.

Reviewed by eLife