Developmental Biology

Embryo-derive TNF promotes decidualization via fibroblast activation

1. Si-Ting Chen
2. Wen-Wen Shi
3. Yu-Qian Lin
4. Zhen-Shan Yang
5. Ying Wang
6. Meng-Yuan Li
7. Yue Li
8. Ai-Xia Liu
9. Yali Hu
10. Zeng-Ming Yang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors provide novel evidence for a connection between fibroblast activation and eutherian stromal decidualization. This important work substantially advances our understanding of decidua biology and its contribution to pregnancy. The authors are using solid evidence to support the findings. The methodology includes in vivo mouse and human stroma cells is broadly supports the claims with only minor weaknesses.

Reviewed by eLife

Efficient generation of marmoset primordial germ cell-like cells using induced pluripotent stem cells

1. Yasunari Seita
2. Keren Cheng
3. John R McCarrey
4. Nomesh Yadu
5. Ian H Cheeseman
6. Alec Bagwell
7. Corinna N Ross
8. Isamar Santana Toro
9. Li-hua Yen
10. Sean Vargas
11. Christopher S Navara
12. Brian P Hermann
13. Kotaro Sasaki

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper describes a method for robust differentiation of the common marmoset induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into primordial germ cell-like cells and subsequently into spermatogonia-like cells when combined with testis somatic cells. The data suggest that marmosets are very similar to humans and macaques. The paper is nicely done but needs further characterization and a better explanation of the methodology.

Reviewed by eLife

Regulation of anterior neurectoderm specification and differentiation by BMP signaling in ascidians

1. Agnès Roure
2. Rafath Chowdhury
3. Sébastien Darras

Reviewed by Review Commons

Directed differentiation of human iPSCs to functional ovarian granulosa-like cells via transcription factor overexpression

1. Merrick D Pierson Smela
2. Christian C Kramme
3. Patrick RJ Fortuna
4. Jessica L Adams
5. Rui Su
6. Edward Dong
7. Mutsumi Kobayashi
8. Garyk Brixi
9. Venkata Srikar Kavirayuni
10. Emma Tysinger
11. Richie E Kohman
12. Toshi Shioda
13. Pranam Chatterjee
14. George M Church

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This is an important and significant study that focuses on deriving ovarian granulosa-like cells from hiPSC lines. The strengths of the study include bioinformatics analysis to identify relevant candidate transcription factors that drive the iPSCs into the ovarian granulosa pathway, an attempt to derive ovaroid model by combining human PGC-like cells with the iPSC-derived granulosa-like cells, and a variety of endpoint analysis including hormone measurements. Some limitations of the study include poor quality of images, lack of convincing demonstration that follicle-like structures are indeed derived in vitro, lack of clear rationale for using different cell lines with different endpoints chosen for analysis, and lack of clear methods indicating stepwise which transcription factors were used.

Reviewed by eLife

Embryo‐uterine interaction coordinates mouse embryogenesis during implantation

1. Vladyslav Bondarenko
2. Mikhail Nikolaev
3. Dimitri Kromm
4. Roman Belousov
5. Adrian Wolny
6. Marloes Blotenburg
7. Peter Zeller
8. Saba Rezakhani
9. Johannes Hugger
10. Virginie Uhlmann
11. Lars Hufnagel
12. Anna Kreshuk
13. Jan Ellenberg
14. Alexander van Oudenaarden
15. Anna Erzberger
16. Matthias P Lutolf
17. Takashi Hiiragi

Reviewed by Review Commons

CLASP1 is essential for neonatal lung function and survival in mice

1. Ana L. Pereira
2. Tiago F. da Silva
3. Luísa T. Ferreira
4. Martine Jaegle
5. Marjon Buscop-van Kempen
6. Robbert Rottier
7. Wilfred F. J. van Ijcken
8. Pedro Brites
9. Niels Galjart
10. Helder Maiato

Reviewed by Review Commons

Molecular characterization of cell types in the squid Loligo vulgaris

1. Jules Duruz
2. Marta Sprecher
3. Jenifer C Kaldun
4. Al-Sayed Al-Soudy
5. Heidi EL Lischer
6. Geert van Geest
7. Pamela Nicholson
8. Rémy Bruggmann
9. Simon G Sprecher

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This manuscript describes cell types in the head of the squid, Loligo vulgaris, through expression patterns of key genes identified in single cell transcriptomics. This topic is generally of great comparative interest. It will contribute to a better understanding of the cephalopod nervous and sensory systems, providing a basis for future comparative and evolutionary research.

Reviewed by eLife

Svep1 is a binding ligand of Tie1 and affects specific aspects of facial lymphatic development in a Vegfc-independent manner

1. Melina Hußmann
2. Dörte Schulte
3. Sarah Weischer
4. Claudia Carlantoni
5. Hiroyuki Nakajima
6. Naoki Mochizuki
7. Didier YR Stainier
8. Thomas Zobel
9. Manuel Koch
10. Stefan Schulte-Merker

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This work reveals that lymphatic vascular development can occur independent of VegfC signaling, and that genetic interactions between a large extracellular matrix protein Svep1 and Tie1 receptor are important for the development of facial lymphatics and other aspects of lymphatic vascular development. The data link Svep1 to Tie1 signaling via elegant genetic experiments and provide important insights into a complex signaling pathway that is widely utilized in vascular development. The genetic evidence is convincing in supporting the findings that Tie1 but not Tie2 interacts with Svep1 in aspects of lymphangiogenesis.

Reviewed by eLife

Absence of CEP78 causes photoreceptor and sperm flagella impairments in mice and a human individual

1. Tianyu Zhu
2. Yuxin Zhang
3. Xunlun Sheng
4. Xiangzheng Zhang
5. Yu Chen
6. Hongjing Zhu
7. Yueshuai Guo
8. Yaling Qi
9. Yichen Zhao
10. Qi Zhou
11. Xue Chen
12. Xuejiang Guo
13. Chen Zhao

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  This paper is of interest to scientists within the cilia and centrosome fields, in particular those studying photoreceptor and sperm development and the diseases associated with their dysfunction. The authors describe the generation and characteristics of Cep78 knockout mice. Consistent with the phenotype observed in patients carrying mutations in CEP78, Cep78 knockout mice show degeneration in photoreceptor cells as well as male infertility associated with multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF). The phenotypic characterisation of Cep78 knockout mice is thorough and convincing, and the Cep78 knockout model will be useful for further elucidating disease mechanism in humans and for potential therapy development. The authors also provide results suggesting that CEP78 directly interacts with IFT20 and TTC21A (IFT139) to form a trimeric complex, but this claim is not justified by the data provided.

Reviewed by eLife

A novel gene REPTOR2 activates the autophagic degradation of wing disc in pea aphid

1. Erliang Yuan
2. Huijuan Guo
3. Weiyao Chen
4. Bingru Du
5. Yingjie Mi
6. Zhaorui Qi
7. Yiyang Yuan
8. Keyan Zhu-Salzman
9. Feng Ge
10. Yucheng Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The aims and hypothesis of the study, which addresses the genetic basis of an iconic example of developmental plasticity, are clear, and the experiments are well conducted. The authors propose that a novel gene that arose through gene duplication, REPTOR2, stimulates autophagy to generate wingless aphid morphs. The implication of a novel gene in wing autophagy for the generation of wingless aphids is novel and interesting, but the link between TOR and REPTOR2 requires further support.

Reviewed by eLife