Developmental Biology

Sp Transcription Factors Establish the Signaling Environment in the Neuromesodermal Progenitor Niche During Axial Elongation

1. Ravindra B Chalamalasetty
2. Haley Tran
3. Ryan Kelly
4. Samuel Kuo
5. Mark W Kennedy
6. Moonsup Lee
7. Sara Thomas
8. Nikolaos Mandalos
9. Vishal Koparde
10. Francisco Pereira Lobo
11. Terry P Yamaguchi

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental work advances our understanding of how SP5 and SP8 promote neuromesodermal competent progenitors in murine embryos. Generally the evidence is compelling, with strong developmental genetics, transcriptomic, and genomic transcription binding surveys contributing to the strength of the data. Some of the language could be softened to avoid overinterpretation of the data, and figures and diagrams could be improved.

Reviewed by eLife

Sulfation affects apical extracellular matrix organization during development of the Drosophila embryonic salivary gland tube

1. J Luke Woodward
2. Jeffrey Matthew
3. Rutuparna Joshi
4. Vishakha Vishwakarma
5. Ying Xiao
6. SeYeon Chung

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This paper is important in demonstrating a requirement for sulfation in organizing apical extracellular matrix (aECM) during tubulogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. The authors identify and characterize the organization of some of the first known components of the non-chitinous aECM in the Drosophila salivary gland tube, and these findings are supported by convincing data. This study would be of interest to developmental and cell biologists.

  [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

Shifts in embryonic oxygen levels cue heterochrony in limb initiation

1. Meng Zhu
2. ChangHee Lee
3. Rinaldo Catta-Preta
4. Clifford J. Tabin

Reviewed by Life Science Editors Foundation

Spatial and longitudinal tracking of enhancer-AAV vectors that target transgene expression to injured mouse myocardium

1. David W Wolfson
2. Joshua A Hull
3. Yongwu Li
4. Trevor J Gonzalez
5. Mourya D Jayaram
6. Garth W Devlin
7. Valentina Cigliola
8. Kelsey A Oonk
9. Alan Rosales
10. Nenad Bursac
11. Aravind Asokan
12. Kenneth D Poss

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study identifies novel approaches to improving transgene expression in the injured mammalian myocardium through a combination of a tissue regeneration enhancer element and engineered AAVs - specifically, a liver-detargeting capsid, AAV.cc84, and an in vivo library screen-selected AAV-IR41. The evidence is convincing, and the AAV vectors are of fundamental value to the field of cardiac gene therapy. Future research exploring how to combine the features of AAV.cc84 and AAV-IR41 could yield an even more promising vector for therapeutic use.

Reviewed by eLife

Arrayed single-gene perturbations identify drivers of human anterior neural tube closure

1. Roya E Huang
2. Giridhar M Anand
3. Heitor C Megale
4. Jason Chen
5. Chudi Abraham-Igwe
6. Sharad Ramanathan

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study is a fundamental advance in the field of developmental biology and transcriptional regulation that demonstrates the use of hPSC-derived organoids to generate reproducible organoids to study the mechanisms that drive neural tube closure. The work is exceptional in its development of tools to use CRISPR interference to screen for genes that regulate morphogenesis in human PSC organoids. The additional characterization of the role of specific transcription factors in neural tube formation is solid. The work provides both technical advances and new knowledge on human development through embryo models.

Reviewed by eLife

Immune–tracheal intercellular signalling coordinates the muscle injury response in Drosophila

1. Nourhene Ammar
2. Olivier Josse
3. Aurélien Guillou
4. Jessica Perochon
5. Hadi Boukhatmi

Reviewed by preLights

Trpv4 mediates temperature induced sex change in ricefield eel

1. Zhi Yang
2. Tingting Luo
3. Yimin Zhang
4. Yuhua Sun

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study presents useful findings on the molecular mechanisms driving female-to-male sex reversal in the ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) during aging, which would be of interest to biologists studying sex determination. The manuscript describes an interesting mechanism potentially underlying sex differentiation in M. albus. However, the current data are incomplete and would benefit from more rigorous experimental approaches.

Reviewed by eLife

Cross-species insemination reveals mouse sperm ability to enter and cross the fish micropyle

1. Suma Garibova
2. Eva Stickler
3. Fatima AlAli
4. Maha A Abdulla
5. Abbirami Sathappan
6. Sahar I Da'as
7. Lillian Ghanem
8. Mohamed Nadhir Djekidel
9. Rick Portman
10. Matteo Avella

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study reports the conservation of sperm-egg envelope binding by demonstrating successful recognition of the micropyle in fish eggs by mouse sperm. The evidence supporting the conclusions drawn is convincing. This study will be of interest to reproductive biologists and clinicians studying the biology of fertilization and fertility.

Reviewed by eLife

Actin cytoskeletal deregulation, caused by RhoGEF2 overexpression, induces cell competition dependent on Ptp10D, Crumbs, and the Hippo signaling pathway

1. Natasha Fahey-Lozano
2. Marta Portela
3. John E. La Marca
4. Helena E. Richardson

Reviewed by Review Commons

Gene regulatory dynamics during craniofacial development in a carnivorous marsupial

1. Laura E Cook
2. Charles Y Feigin
3. John D Hills
4. Davide M Vespasiani
5. Andrew J Pask
6. Irene Gallego Romero

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study of regulatory elements and gene expression in the craniofacial region of the fat-tailed dunnart shows that, compared to placental mammals, marsupial craniofacial tissue develops in a precocious manner, with enhancer regulatory elements as primary driver of this difference. The compelling data, including a new dunnart genome assembly, provide an invaluable reference for future mammalian evolution studies, especially once additional developmental time point for the fat-tailed dunnart become available.

Reviewed by eLife