Developmental Biology

Capitella teleta gets left out: Possible evolutionary shift causes loss of left tissues rather than increased neural tissue from dominant-negative BMPR1

1. Nicole B. Webster
2. Néva P. Meyer

Reviewed by Arcadia Science

scMultiome analysis identifies embryonic hindbrain progenitors with mixed rhombomere identities

1. Yong-Il Kim
2. Rebecca O'Rourke
3. Charles G Sagerström

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study transcriptomically profiles the developing zebrafish hindbrain from gastrulation through stages of rhombomere formation. The strength is that the transcriptomic data will be a valuable resource to the field. The paper would profit from a deeper analysis of functional aspects of hindbrain development during its segmentation into rhombomeres.

Reviewed by eLife

The PMA phorbol ester tumor promoter increases canonical Wnt signaling via macropinocytosis

1. Nydia Tejeda-Munoz
2. Yagmur Azbazdar
3. Julia Monka
4. Grace Binder
5. Alex Dayrit
6. Raul Ayala
7. Neil O'Brien
8. Edward M De Robertis

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The strength of this important study is that it provides compelling evidence in several biological models, including Xenopus embryos, that Wnt3a increases macropinocytosis and that PMA increases this cellular response. This novel link between Wnt, focal adhesions, lysosomes, and macropinocytosis will be very interesting for cell and tumor biologists. In future work, it will be good to identify the underlying mechanism, i.e., the molecular node whereby this interaction occurs.

Reviewed by eLife

Gene regulatory patterning codes in early cell fate specification of the C. elegans embryo

1. Alison G Cole
2. Tamar Hashimshony
3. Zhuo Du
4. Itai Yanai

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable work fills a gap in the mapping of gene expression patterns in the early embryo of C. elegans. The presented data are solid and provides a resource for future analysis.

Reviewed by eLife

Truncated radial glia as a common precursor in the late corticogenesis of gyrencephalic mammals

1. Merve Bilgic
2. Quan Wu
3. Taeko Suetsugu
4. Atsunori Shitamukai
5. Yuji Tsunekawa
6. Tomomi Shimogori
7. Mitsutaka Kadota
8. Osamu Nishimura
9. Shigehiro Kuraku
10. Hiroshi Kiyonari
11. Fumio Matsuzaki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important study that improves gene models for the ferret genome and identifies neural progenitors that are comparable to those found in developing human brains. The data are convincing and clearly presented. Of particular interest to the field, the work identifies enriched expression of FOXJ1 in late truncated radial glia, strongly indicating that towards the end of neurogenesis, these cells likely give rise to ependymal cells. The work is of interest to anyone studying the development of the nervous system, especially colleagues studying the evolution of development.

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

Drosophila axis extension is robust to an orthogonal pull by invaginating mesoderm

1. Claire M Lye
2. Guy B. Blanchard
3. Jenny Evans
4. Alexander Nestor-Bergmann
5. Bénédicte Sanson

Reviewed by Review Commons

Hybridization led to a rewired pluripotency network in the allotetraploid Xenopus laevis

1. Wesley A Phelps
2. Matthew D Hurton
3. Taylor N Ayers
4. Anne E Carlson
5. Joel C Rosenbaum
6. Miler T Lee

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper reports fundamental findings that substantially advance our understanding of a major research question - how hybridization events influence gene regulatory programs and how evolutionary pressures have shaped these programs in response to such events. The methods, data, and analyses are solid and broadly support the claims with only minor weaknesses. This convincing work uses appropriate and validated methodology in line with the current state-of-the-art.

Reviewed by eLife

Epsilon tubulin is an essential determinant of microtubule-based structures in male germ cells

1. G Gemma Stathatos
2. D Jo Merriner
3. Anne E O’Connor
4. Jennifer Zenker
5. Jessica EM Dunleavy
6. Moira K O’Bryan

Reviewed by Review Commons

DMRT1 is a testis-determining gene in rabbits and is also essential for female fertility

1. Emilie Dujardin
2. Marjolaine André
3. Aurélie Dewaele
4. Béatrice Mandon-Pépin
5. Francis Poulat
6. Anne Frambourg
7. Dominique Thépot
8. Luc Jouneau
9. Geneviève Jolivet
10. Eric Pailhoux
11. Maëlle Pannetier

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this important study, the rabbit was used as a non-rodent mammalian model to show that DMRT1 has a testicular promoting function as it does in humans. The experiments are meticulous and compelling, and the arguments are clear and convincing. These results may explain the gonadal dysgenesis associated with mutations in human DMRT1 and highlight the need for mammalian models other than mice to better understand the process of gonadal sex determination in humans.

Reviewed by eLife

Dynamic compartmentalization of the pro-invasive transcription factor NHR-67 reveals a role for Groucho in regulating a proliferative-invasive cellular switch in C. elegans

1. Taylor N Medwig-Kinney
2. Brian A Kinney
3. Michael AQ Martinez
4. Callista Yee
5. Sydney S Sirota
6. Angelina A Mullarkey
7. Neha Somineni
8. Justin Hippler
9. Wan Zhang
10. Kang Shen
11. Christopher Hammell
12. Ariel M Pani
13. David Q Matus

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This valuable data study presents convincing data that expression of the C. elegans transcription factor NHR-67 is sufficient to drive an invasive fate, and that the alternative proliferative fate is associated with NHR-67 transcriptional down-regulation. While the observation that NHR-67 forms punctae associated with transcriptional repressors in non-invasive cells is intriguing, the work does not yet established a clear link between the formation and dissolution of NHR-67 condensates with the activation of downstream genes that NHR-67 is actively repressing. The work will be of interest to developmental biologists studying transcriptional control of cell fate specification in animals, especially once issues around the functional significance of the NHR-67 contiaining punctae are resolved.

Reviewed by eLife