Developmental Biology

ZNHIT1-dependent H2A.Z deposition at meiotic prophase I underlies pachytene gene expression and meiotic progression during male meiosis

1. Shenfei Sun
2. Yamei Jiang
3. Ning Jiang
4. Qiaoli Zhang
5. Hongjie Pan
6. Fujing Huang
7. Xinna Zhang
8. Yuxuan Guo
9. Xiaoyu You
10. Kai Gong
11. Wei Wei
12. Hanmin Liu
13. Zhenju Song
14. Yuanlin Song
15. Xiaofang Tang
16. Miao Yu
17. Runsheng Li
18. Xinhua Lin

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study shows that Znhit1, a regulator of chromatin and of the histone variant H2A.Z, is required for progression through meiotic prophase. It is an important observation that describes the role of epigenetics and gene expression during meiosis. The analysis is based on complementary approaches at the cytological, single-cell, and genomic levels that provide solid evidence for the role of Znhit1 in the control of gene expression and in the loading of H2A.Z in mouse spermatocytes.

Reviewed by eLife

Dorsal/NF-κB exhibits a dorsal-to-ventral mobility gradient in the Drosophila embryo

1. Hadel Al Asafen
2. Natalie M Clark
3. Etika Goyal
4. Sadia Siddika Dima
5. Hung-Yuan Chen
6. Thomas Jacobsen
7. Rosangela Sozzani
8. Gregory T Reeves

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides quantitative data and analysis to reveal that variations in Dorsal (Dl ) nuclear dynamics along the Dorso-ventral axis in the early Drosophila embryo are governed by Dl-Cactus nuclear interactions. The solid evidence partially supports a mechanism where nuclear localized Cactus contributes to the fraction of Dl that binds to DNA, but additional work will be necessary to confirm the claims and the biological significance of these findings.

Reviewed by eLife

A single-cell transcriptomic atlas of inner ear morphogenesis in zebrafish

1. Akankshi Munjal
2. Kalki Kukreja
3. Samara Williams
4. Toru Kawanishi
5. Natasha M O’Brown
6. Kana Ishimatsu
7. Allon Klein
8. Sean G Tsung-Megason
9. Ian A Swinburne

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is a valuable study on single-cell transcriptomic analyses, focused on morphogenesis of the zebrafish inner ear in wildtype and lmx1bb mutants. The supporting evidence is mostly convincing, but incomplete in parts.

Reviewed by eLife

A spatiotemporal transcriptomic atlas of the mouse placenta reveals glycogen cell-mediated metabolic support essential for fetal viability

1. Yuting Fu
2. Xiaoqi Zeng
3. Yifang Liu
4. Shikai Jia
5. Yujia Jiang
6. Jia Ping Tan
7. Yue Yuan
8. Tianchang Xia
9. Yun Mei
10. Shan Wen
11. Xiaojing Liu
12. Yue You
13. Weike Pei
14. Chengshuo Yang
15. Sida Shao
16. Junhua Shen
17. Liangshan Mu
18. Xiaoxue Ma
19. Matthew Paul McCormack
20. Saifeng Cheng
21. Luyi Tian
22. Longqi Liu
23. Xiaoyu Wei
24. Xiaodong Liu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study reports a spatiotemporal atlas of mouse placental development and explores the role of glycogen trophoblast cells in fetal viability. Solid data are presented to support the main conclusion. This work will be of great interest to developmental DNA reproductive biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Label-free assessment of pre-implantation embryo quality by the Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM)-phasor approach

1. Ning Ma
2. Nabora Reyes de Mochel
3. Paula Duyen Pham
4. Tae Yeon Yoo
5. Ken W. Y. Cho
6. Michelle A. Digman

Reviewed by Arcadia Science