Developmental Biology

The impact of cell size on morphogen gradient precision

1. Jan A. Adelmann
2. Roman Vetter
3. Dagmar Iber

Reviewed by Review Commons

Molecular characterization of the intact mouse muscle spindle using a multi-omics approach

1. Bavat Bornstein
2. Lia Heinemann-Yerushalmi
3. Sharon Krief
4. Ruth Adler
5. Bareket Dassa
6. Dena Leshkowitz
7. Minchul Kim
8. Guy Bewick
9. Robert W Banks
10. Elazar Zelzer

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript is of potential interest for a broad spectrum of researchers working on the nervous and muscular systems. By combining transcriptome and proteome analyses, the authors reveal the molecular makeup of the different compartments of the muscle spindle. The work is novel, makes important observations, and is well-executed and methodologically convincing to provide the field with new tools for dissecting the development and function of the muscle spindle.

Reviewed by eLife

A neuroepithelial wave of BMP signalling drives anteroposterior specification of the tuberal hypothalamus

1. Kavitha Chinnaiya
2. Sarah Burbridge
3. Aragorn Jones
4. Dong Won Kim
5. Elsie Place
6. Elizabeth Manning
7. Ian Groves
8. Changyu Sun
9. Matthew Towers
10. Seth Blackshaw
11. Marysia Placzek

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the development of the tuberal hypothalamus of the chick embryo. It thus presents a useful tool for scientists working in this particular subfield. However, the manuscript is incomplete as it is impossible for the reader to follow the conclusions made by the authors because the presentation of the data is not streamlined and the text is difficult to follow, even for experts.

Reviewed by eLife

Sexual dimorphic regulation of recombination by the synaptonemal complex in C. elegans

1. Cori K Cahoon
2. Colette M Richter
3. Amelia E Dayton
4. Diana E Libuda

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study shows the sexually dimorphic dynamics of the components of meiosis-specific chromosome structure and the gene-dosage effect of the components on meiotic recombination. The experimental evidence in the paper is solid with cytological analysis with Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP). The work will be of interest to researchers working on meiosis and chromosome dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

The dark kinase STK32A regulates hair cell planar polarity opposite of EMX2 in the developing mouse inner ear

1. Shihai Jia
2. Evan M Ratzan
3. Ellison J Goodrich
4. Raisa Abrar
5. Luke Heiland
6. Basile Tarchini
7. Michael R Deans

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study advances our understanding of the molecular players downstream of the transcription factor Emx2 that establish planar cell polarity in hair cells of the mammalian inner ear. The conclusions, which are supported by compelling evidence, will be of interest to those studying the development and function of the vestibular system and mechanisms of planar cell polarity.

Reviewed by eLife

Emergent dynamics of adult stem cell lineages from single nucleus and single cell RNA-Seq of Drosophila testes

1. Amelie A Raz
2. Gabriela S Vida
3. Sarah R Stern
4. Sharvani Mahadevaraju
5. Jaclyn M Fingerhut
6. Jennifer M Viveiros
7. Soumitra Pal
8. Jasmine R Grey
9. Mara R Grace
10. Cameron W Berry
11. Hongjie Li
12. Jasper Janssens
13. Wouter Saelens
14. Zhantao Shao
15. Chun Hu
16. Yukiko M Yamashita
17. Teresa Przytycka
18. Brian Oliver
19. Julie A Brill
20. Henry Krause
21. Erika L Matunis
22. Helen White-Cooper
23. Stephen DiNardo
24. Margaret T Fuller

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This study provides further detailed analysis of recently published Fly Atlas data supplemented with newly generated single cell RNA-seq data. Through characterizing these datasets, the authors define different germ cell and somatic cell clusters throughout the testis. This work confirms and extends previous observations regarding the changing gene expression programs these cells exhibit during their differentiation. This manuscript provides an important and detailed foundation for future studies of these lineages.

Reviewed by eLife

MMP14 cleaves PTH1R in the chondrocyte-derived osteoblast lineage, curbing signaling intensity for proper bone anabolism

1. Tsz Long Chu
2. Peikai Chen
3. Anna Xiaodan Yu
4. Mingpeng Kong
5. Zhijia Tan
6. Kwok Yeung Tsang
7. Zhongjun Zhou
8. Kathryn Song Eng Cheah

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  In this study, the authors presented the novel findings that PTH signaling plays a significant role in bone formation in hypertrophic chondrocyte (HC)-derived osteoblasts and MMP14 cleaves PTH1R and inhibits PTH signaling. These studies significantly contribute to our understanding of molecular mechanisms of postnatal bone formation and adult bone remodeling, especially the HC cells in this process. The study was well-designed and well-conducted. The data in this study are convincing and support the conclusion made by the authors.

Reviewed by eLife

The Slingshot phosphatase 2 is required for acrosome biogenesis during spermatogenesis in mice

1. Ke Xu
2. Xianwei Su
3. Kailun Fang
4. Yue Lv
5. Tao Huang
6. Mengjing Li
7. Ziqi Wang
8. Yingying Yin
9. Tahir Muhammad
10. Shangming Liu
11. Xiangfeng Chen
12. Jing Jiang
13. Jinsong Li
14. Wai-Yee Chan
15. Jinlong Ma
16. Gang Lu
17. Zi-Jiang Chen
18. Hongbin Liu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This important study reports the physiological role of Ssh2 in spermatogenesis as a critical factor for acrosome biogenesis. Loss of SSh2 in round spermatids prevents the fusion of proacrosomal vesicles leading to fragmented acrosomes due to impaired actin bundling and dephosphorylation of COFILIN. This work would be more convincing if mutations in this gene could be identified in human infertile men. Moreover, the proposed mechanism needs cross-validation in future work.

Reviewed by eLife

Dermal appendage-dependent patterning of zebrafish atoh1a+ Merkel cells

1. Tanya L Brown
2. Emma C Horton
3. Evan W Craig
4. Camille EA Goo
5. Erik C Black
6. Madeleine N Hewitt
7. Nathaniel G Yee
8. Everett T Fan
9. David W Raible
10. Jeffrey P Rasmussen

Reviewed by Review Commons

MorphoFeatures for unsupervised exploration of cell types, tissues, and organs in volume electron microscopy

1. Valentyna Zinchenko
2. Johannes Hugger
3. Virginie Uhlmann
4. Detlev Arendt
5. Anna Kreshuk

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper introduces a fundamentally new automated method for assigning cell types and distinguishing organs in electron microscope (EM) reconstructions, a process that was previously manual. The authors present compelling evidence that their approach works as well or better than human efforts, in at least one species. This new method can help avoid a known bottleneck in EM reconstructions, one that will otherwise limit the ability of EM to scale up to larger volumes and target additional animal species. The main limitation is that the method has only been tested on a single species, but if tests show similar performance on other animals, the method will likely become a mainstay of EM reconstruction efforts.

Reviewed by eLife