Developmental Biology

Simple Methods to Acutely Measure Multiple Timing Metrics among Sexual Repertoire of Male Drosophila

1. Yutong Song
2. Dongyu Sun
3. Xiao Liu
4. Fan Jiang
5. Xuejiao Yang
6. Woo Jae Kim

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful paper describes a software tool, "DrosoMating", which allows automated, high-throughput quantification of 6 common metrics of courtship and mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster. The validity of the tool is quite convincingly demonstrated by comparing expert human assessments with those made by DrosoMating. The work, however, does not address how DrosoMating compares with or advances on other existing tools for exactly the same purpose, whether it can be used for studies of other Drosophila species, and/or whether finer aspects of courtship response timing - which depend on proximal female signals to the male - could be extracted with more detailed analyses. Some additional statistical analyses would also help further strengthen the authors' current conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Heterochronic scaling of neurogenesis for species-specific dosing of cortical excitatory subtypes

1. Yuki Y. Yamauchi
2. Xuanhao D. Sheu
3. Rafat Tarfder
4. Takuma Kumamoto
5. Jun Hatakeyama
6. Haruka Sato
7. Pauline Rouillard
8. Merve Bilgic
9. Shuto Deguchi
10. Tomonori Nakamura
11. Yusuke Kishi
12. Kazuo Emoto
13. Ikuo K. Suzuki

Reviewed by Review Commons

Jam2 Signaling Functions Downstream of Hand2 To Initiate The Formation Of Organ-Specific Vascular Progenitors In Zebrafish

1. Martyna Griciunaite
2. Julius Martinkus
3. Sanjeeva Metikala
4. Ricardo DeMoya
5. Suman Gurung
6. Diandra Rufin Florat
7. Saulius Sumanas

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study addresses the question of how organ-specific blood vessels form during different stages of development, and how specific genes may regulate these processes. New genetic tools were developed to label distinct endothelial cell populations and track them over time in different mutant backgrounds. The results are solid; however, additional data quantification, lineage tracing, and cell autonomy experiments would further strengthen the conclusions.

Reviewed by eLife

Genetic network shaping Kenyon cell identity and function in Drosophila mushroom bodies

1. Pei-Chi Chung
2. Kai-Yuan Ku
3. Sao-Yu Chu
4. Chen Chen
5. Hung-Hsiang Yu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental study uses the Drosophila mushroom body as a model to understand the molecular machinery that controls the temporal specification of neuronal cell types. With convincing experimental evidence, the authors make the finding that the Pipsqueak domain-containing transcription factor Eip93F plays a central role in specifying a later-born neuronal subtype while repressing gene expression programs for earlier subtypes.

Reviewed by eLife

Tissue mechanics and systemic signaling safeguard epithelial tissue against spindle misorientation

1. Floris Bosveld
2. Baptiste Tesson
3. Eric van Leen
4. Sam Amirebrahimi
5. Raphael Thinat
6. Yohanns Bellaiche

Reviewed by preLights

Dynamics of bicoid mRNA localisation and translation dictate morphogen gradient formation

1. T. Athilingam
2. E.L. Wilby
3. P. Bensidoun
4. A. Trullo
5. M. Verbrugghe
6. X. Shi
7. M. Lagha
8. T.E. Saunders
9. T.T. Weil

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 offer a mechanistic link between transient spatial cues that 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

Massively parallel reporter assay for mapping gene-specific regulatory regions at single-nucleotide resolution

1. Alastair J Tulloch
2. Ryan Nicholas Delgado
3. Rinaldo Catta-Preta
4. Constance L Cepko

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript presents a valuable methodological approach to investigating context-dependent activity of cis-regulatory activity within defined genomic loci. The authors combine a locus-specific massively parallel reporter assay, enabling unbiased and high-coverage profiling of enhancer activity across large genomic regions, with a degenerate reporter assay to identify nucleotides critical for enhancer function. The data supporting the conclusions are solid, highlighted by successful identification and characterization of both previously known and new regulatory elements across multiple developmental stages, cell types, and species. While the approach has inherent limitations in sensitivity, and indirect assignment of regulatory elements to target genes, it provides a flexible platform for nominating candidate cis-regulatory elements across defined loci.

Reviewed by eLife

Mouse germline cysts contain a fusome-like structure that mediates oocyte development

1. Madhulika Pathak
2. Allan C Spradling

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This manuscript provides evidence that mouse germline cysts develop an asymmetric Golgi, ER, and microtubule-associated structure that resembles the fusome in Drosophila germline cysts. This fundamental study provides new evidence that fusome-like structures exist in germ cell cysts across species. Overall, the data are convincing and represent a significant advance in our understanding of germ cell biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Human spinal cord organoids reveal cell intercalation as a conserved mechanism for secondary neurulation

1. José Blanco-Ameijeiras
2. Yara El Majzoub
3. Mar García-Valero
4. Mariana M Faustino
5. Elena Rebollo
6. Javier Macho-Rendón
7. Jorge Corbacho
8. Juan Ramón Martínez-Morales
9. Elisa Martí

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents a valuable human stem cell-derived organoid model that captures key morphological and cellular features of spinal cord development and provides evidence for a YAP-dependent mechanism of lumen formation relevant to secondary neurulation. Overall, the evidence is convincing, using strong and validated approaches consistent with the current state of the art, including systematic protocol optimisation across multiple cell lines and quantitative analysis of tissue architecture. However, some claims regarding precise anterior-posterior and dorsoventral spinal cord identity, as well as several novelty claims, are at times overstated and would benefit from more direct validation and more careful positioning. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists and researchers studying neural tube defects.

Reviewed by eLife