Developmental Biology

Single-cell atlas of early chick development reveals gradual segregation of neural crest lineage from the neural plate border during neurulation

1. Ruth M Williams
2. Martyna Lukoseviciute
3. Tatjana Sauka-Spengler
4. Marianne E Bronner

• Curated by eLife

  Public Evaluation Summary:

  Determining when cells acquire their individual identity is critical for understanding the patterning and growth of embryos. The authors use state-of-the-art methods to map the lineages of cells that emerge during the earliest stages of development in chick embryos and that contribute to the central and peripheral nervous system. The authors have characterised the gene signature of ectoderm sub-clusters and used algorithms to infer lineage trajectories using the dataset. However, the analysis of placode and neural crest emergence is not clear-cut or well supported by in vivo experiments in the embryo. The work overall will be of broad interest to developmental and stem cell biologists, as well as neurobiologists interested in the understanding of the neural and neural crest gene regulatory networks.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript.The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

m6A epitranscriptomic modification regulates neural progenitor-to-glial cell transition in the retina

1. Yanling Xin
2. Qinghai He
3. Huilin Liang
4. Ke Zhang
5. Jingyi Guo
6. Qi Zhong
7. Dan Chen
8. Jinyan Li
9. Yizhi Liu
10. Shuyi Chen

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This work describes the function of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in developing retina. Enriched scRNA-seq and MeRIP-seq data will be an excellent resource for neurodevelopmental community.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Single-cell profiling of lncRNAs in human germ cells and molecular analysis reveals transcriptional regulation of LNC1845 on LHX8

1. Nan Wang
2. Jing He
3. Xiaoyu Feng
4. Shengyou Liao
5. Yi Zhao
6. Fuchou Tang
7. Kehkooi Kee

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript provides a comprehensive analysis of expression patterns and genomic features of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the human developing gonad, using available single-cell RNA-seq datasets from both somatic and germ cells. Using multiple genetic strategies in an in vitro system of female germ cell differentiation, the study further shows a positive regulatory function of the LNC1845 lncRNA on its protein-coding neighbor LHX8, known to have a role in ovarian follicle development. This study has potential interest for reproductive biologists and for the non-coding RNA community.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Large-scale analysis and computer modeling reveal hidden regularities behind variability of cell division patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana embryogenesis

1. Elise Laruelle
2. Katia Belcram
3. Alain Trubuil
4. Jean-Christophe Palauqui
5. Philippe Andrey

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The manuscript presents a high-quality quantitative analysis of plant embryo cell division in 3D. Authors combine computer modeling with detailed microscopy imaging to reveal underlying patterns and biases in cell divisions. The manuscript will likely be of interest to cell and developmental biologists. The conclusion can be straightened following additional analysis and data interpretation.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

A timer gene network is spatially regulated by the terminal system in the Drosophila embryo

1. Erik Clark
2. Margherita Battistara
3. Matthew A Benton

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Through the use of multiplexed in situ hybridization with careful embryo staging, this manuscript represents exemplary documentation of dynamic gene expression patterns in early fly development. By comparison of these patterns in various mutant combinations, a simple logical model for specification of expression is proposed. This manuscript will be of broad significance to developmental biologists interested in embryo segmentation and gene regulatory networks underpinning patterning.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Targeted depletion of uterine glandular Foxa2 induces embryonic diapause in mice

1. Mitsunori Matsuo
2. Jia Yuan
3. Yeon Sun Kim
4. Amanda Dewar
5. Hidetoshi Fujita
6. Sudhansu K Dey
7. Xiaofei Sun

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript reports the complex interactions that take place in the uterus between the endometrium and the blastocyst during and after embryonic diapause, a period of suspended animation that occurs in some mammals including the mouse, the model used here. The authors showed that one gene, Foxa2, interacts with two other genes, Msx1 and LIF, to control the success and duration of diapause. This will be of broad interest to researchers in the field of developmental biology and reproduction. It is a carefully done study, providing new information on the complex process that is diapause in which an embryo goes into suspended animation until it receives appropriate signaling from the uterine endometrial secretions to reactivate.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Transgenic quails reveal dynamic TCF/β-catenin signaling during avian embryonic development

1. Hila Barzilai-Tutsch
2. Valerie Morin
3. Gauthier Toulouse
4. Oleksandr Chernyavskiy
5. Stephen Firth
6. Christophe Marcelle
7. Olivier Serralbo

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The manuscript describes several optimizations of classic DNA reporter constructs to monitor closely the dynamics of Wnt/β-catenin signalling during development using transgenic avian lines. As Wnt signalling pathway is essential in the homeostasis of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, a robust tool to analyse finely the dynamics of Wnt/β-catenin pathway is of broad interest for the biology/biomedicine scientific communities.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Sequential addition of neuronal stem cell temporal cohorts generates a feed-forward circuit in the Drosophila larval nerve cord

1. Yi-wen Wang
2. Chris C Wreden
3. Maayan Levy
4. Julia L Meng
5. Zarion D Marshall
6. Jason MacLean
7. Ellie Heckscher

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Wang et al., present a thorough analysis of specific neuronal lineages in the early larval ventral nervous system with the objective to relate the birth order to circuit connectivity and function. The stated key findings of the work are (1) the identification of sharp temporal cohort divisions for the lineages under investigation, (2) synapse formation between neurons of different lineages and temporal cohorts, and (3) the observation that output neurons in this instance are born prior to input neurons. The study raises the question of to what extent these findings can be generalized.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

PI3K signaling specifies proximal-distal fate by driving a developmental gene regulatory network in SOX9+ mouse lung progenitors

1. Divya Khattar
2. Sharlene Fernandes
3. John Snowball
4. Minzhe Guo
5. Matthew C Gillen
6. Suchi Singh Jain
7. Debora Sinner
8. William Zacharias
9. Daniel T Swarr

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript is one of the first broad epigenetic analyses in lung development and will be of interest to not only lung biologists but also to the field of epithelial developmental biology. Using paired transcriptomic and epigenetic data, they have uncovered a vast repertoire of signaling mechanisms underlying lung development. These findings have opened up the field's opportunities to understand and study novel pathways and have further defined a role for PI3 kinase signaling in lung development.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

FGF8 induces chemokinesis and regulates condensation of mouse nephron progenitor cells

1. Abhishek Sharma
2. Marco Meer
3. Arvydas Dapkunas
4. Anneliis Ihermann-Hella
5. Satu Kuure
6. Seppo J. Vainio
7. Dagmar Iber
8. Florence Naillat

Reviewed by Review Commons