Developmental Biology

Getting a head start: Craniofacial heterochrony in marsupials involves dynamic changes to molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neural crest development

1. Axel H Newton
2. Ella R Farley
3. Andrew T Major
4. Jennifer C Hutchison
5. Ben M Lawrence
6. Karen E Sears
7. Marilyn B Renfree
8. Aiden M C Couzens
9. Geoff Shaw
10. Sara Ord
11. Richard A Schneider
12. Andrew J Pask

Reviewed by preLights

Early exercise disrupts a pro-repair extracellular matrix program during zebrafish fin regeneration

1. Victor M Lewis
2. Rafael A Fernandez
3. Samuel G Horst
4. Carlos A Gonzalez
5. Kryn Stankunas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  The results in this study are useful because they begin to establish a causal link between physical activity and the cellular mechanisms of regeneration. The evidence presented is largely solid, supporting the conclusion that exercise-induced changes in the extracellular matrix disrupt regeneration; however, some claims are incomplete, requiring additional controls and a clearer distinction between the effects of mechanical loading and mechanical injury to the blastema. The work will be of interest to researchers in regenerative medicine.

Reviewed by eLife

Rejuvenation-Responsive and Senolytic-Sensitive Muscle Stem Cells Unveiled by CD200 and CD63 in Geriatric Muscle

1. Ye Lynne Kim
2. Young-Woo Jo
3. Takwon Yoo
4. Kyusang Yoo
5. Ji-Hoon Kim
6. Myungsun Park
7. In-Wook Song
8. Hyun Kim
9. Yea-Eun Kim
10. Sang-Hyeon Hann
11. Jong-Eun Park
12. Daehyun Baek
13. Young-Yun Kong

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study is useful because it challenges the widely accepted notion that muscle stem cell numbers decline with aging, providing novel insights into population heterogeneity and the identification of new surface markers for geriatric MuSCs. However, the evidence is considered incomplete due to insufficient quantitative comparisons of absolute cell numbers, limited analysis of age groups (particularly the lack of "aged" mice as opposed to geriatric), and the need for further functional and mechanistic validation of key subpopulations. Additional concerns that require clarification include the lack of statistical rigor in some experiments, the presentation of supporting data not being complete, and the overextension of claims relating to senescence and new marker validation. Overall, while the findings advance understanding of MuSC aging, the conclusions drawn by the authors should be strengthened with expanded experiments and more rigorous data analysis.

Reviewed by eLife

Characterisation of cell-scale signalling by the core planar polarity pathway during Drosophila wing development

1. Alexandre Carayon
2. Helen Strutt
3. David Strutt

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful paper examined the mechanism of planar cell polarity (PCP) using Drosophila pupal wing, investigating how 'cellular level', 'molecular level' and 'tissue level' mechanisms intersect to establish PCP. This represents progress for the field and the conclusions are mostly backed up by solid data. Whereas the manuscript is sound overall, remaining concerns could be addressed by textual clarification of the concepts used in the manuscript.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons and revised by the authors.]

Reviewed by eLife

Dachsous-Fat Signaling Shapes the Drosophila Wing through Mechanical Forces

1. Bipin Kumar Tripathi
2. Zhenru Zhou
3. Kenneth D. Irvine

Reviewed by Review Commons

ADAM interact with large protein complexes to regulate Histone modification, gene expression and splicing

1. Ankit Pandey
2. Helene Cousin
3. Shiv Kumar
4. Louis Taylor
5. Ashmita Chander
6. Kelsey Coppenrath
7. Nikko-Ideen Shaidani
8. Marko Horb
9. Dominique Alfandari

Reviewed by Review Commons

Cell cycle-dependent cues regulate temporal patterning of the Drosophila central brain neural stem cells

1. Gonzalo N Morales Chaya
2. Mubarak Hussain Syed

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful manuscript reports findings indicating that cell cycle progression and cytokinesis both play a role in the transition of early to late neural stem cell fates. The imaging data are solid and mostly support the conclusions. However, experimental details are missing, the method of quantitation could be improved, and orthogonal approaches are needed to confirm the findings, which are based on loss-of-function approaches and are not sufficient to support some of the authors' conclusions. Lastly, there is no investigation of the underlying mechanism linking the cell cycle or cytokinesis to the changes (or lack thereof) of early and late NSC fates.

Reviewed by eLife

Corneal lens curvature depends on localized chitin secretion

1. Neha Ghosh
2. Jessica E. Treisman

Reviewed by Review Commons

HoxB-derived hoxba and hoxbb clusters are essential for the anterior–posterior positioning of zebrafish pectoral fins

1. Morimichi Kikuchi
2. Renka Fujii
3. Daiki Kobayashi
4. Yuki Kawabe
5. Haruna Kanno
6. Sohju Toyama
7. Farah Tawakkal
8. Kazuya Yamada
9. Akinori Kawamura

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study advances our understanding of vertebrate forelimb development, specifically the contribution of Hox genes to zebrafish pectoral fin formation. The authors have employed a robust and extensive genetic approach to tackle a key and unresolved question. The findings are overall convincing and will be of broad interest to developmental and evolutionary biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Spectraplakin cooperates with noncentrosomal microtubule regulators to orient dendritic microtubules in Drosophila

1. Matthew Davies
2. Neeraja Sanal
3. Neele Wolterhoff
4. Ulrike Gigengack
5. Yitao Shen
6. Ines Hahn
7. Sebastian Rumpf

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  Davies et al. present a valuable study proposing that Shot can act as a molecular linker between microtubules and actin during dendrite pruning, suggesting an intriguing role in non-centrosomal microtubule organization. However, the experimental evidence is incomplete and does not robustly support these claims, and the lack of a cohesive model connecting the findings weakens the overall impact. While the data suggest that Shot, actin, and microtubule nucleation contribute to dendritic pruning, their precise interplay remains unresolved.

Reviewed by eLife