Developmental Biology

A tissue boundary orchestrates the segregation of inner ear sensory organs

1. Ziqi Chen
2. Magdalena Żak
3. Shuting Xu
4. Javier de Andrés
5. Nicolas Daudet

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This is an important study describing the morphological changes during boundary formation between sensory and non-sensory tissues of the inner ear. The authors provided solid evidence that a transcription factor, Lmx1a and ROCK-dependent actinomyosin are key for border formation in the inner ear. However, future studies will be needed to investigate the direct relationships among boundary formation, Lmx1a and ROCK. This work will be of interest to developmental biologists interested in boundary formation.

Reviewed by eLife

Inverted Assembly of the Lens Within Ocular Organoids Reveals Alternate Paths to Ocular Morphogenesis

1. Elin Stahl
2. Miguel Angel Delgado-Toscano
3. Ishwariya Saravanan
4. Anastasija Paneva
5. Joachim Wittbrodt
6. Lucie Zilova

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study demonstrates that ocular organoids can generate both retina and lens through a non-canonical, "inside-out" morphogenetic route. The work is solid, with well-designed experiments combining imaging, molecular analyses, and transcriptomics to establish that lens formation in organoids follows conserved molecular programs despite an alternative morphogenesis. These findings expand our understanding of self-organization and developmental plasticity, and will be of broad interest to researchers working on eye development, organoids, and tissue engineering.

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

Reviewed by eLife, Review Commons

miR-184 modulates dilp8 to control developmental timing during normal growth conditions and in response to developmental perturbations

1. Jervis Fernandes
2. Muhammed Naseem
3. Ayisha Marwa MP
4. Jishy Varghese

Reviewed by Review Commons

Prickle and Ror modulate Dishevelled-Vangl interaction to regulate non-canonical Wnt signaling during convergent extension

1. Hwa-seon Seo
2. Deli Yu
3. Ivan Popov
4. Jiahui Tao
5. Allyson Angermeier
6. Fei Yang
7. Sylvie Marchetto
8. Jean-Paul Borg
9. Bingdong Sha
10. Jeffrey D Axelrod
11. Chenbei Chang
12. Jianbo Wang

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This important study addresses mechanisms of feedback inhibition between planar cell polarity protein complexes during convergent extension movements in Xenopus embryos. The authors propose a conceptually new model, in which non-canonical Wnt ligand stimulates transition of Dishevelled from its complex with Vangl to Frizzled, with essential roles of Prickle and Ror in this process. The main observations supporting molecular interactions are interesting and convincing but do not directly assess convergent extension, and the immunoprecipitations carried out with overexpressed proteins show subtle effects. With the analysis of cell intercalations supporting the main conclusions, this work would be significant and of broad interest to cell and developmental biologists.

Reviewed by eLife

Genetic Network Shaping Kenyon Cell Identity and Function in Drosophila Mushroom Bodies

1. Pei-Chi Chung
2. Kai-Yuan Ku
3. Sao-Yu Chu
4. Chen Chen
5. Hung-Hsiang Yu

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study uses the Drosophila mushroom body as a model to understand the molecular machinery that controls the temporal specification of neuronal cell types. With convincing experimental evidence, the authors made fundamental findings that the Pipsqueak domain-containing transcription factor Eip93F is central to the specification of a later-born neuronal subtype and in inhibiting gene expression for earlier subtypes.

Reviewed by eLife

Nup107 is a crucial regulator of torso-mediated metamorphic transition in Drosophila melanogaster

1. Jyotsna Kawadkar
2. Pradyumna Ajit Joshi
3. Ram Kumar Mishra

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study presents findings on the developmental roles of Nup107, a key nucleoporin, in regulating the larval-to-pupal transition in Drosophila melanogaster through its involvement in ecdysone signaling. The evidence supporting the authors' claims is solid, with robust experimental approaches including RNAi knockdown and rescue experiments. The authors propose that Nup107 influences EcR localization indirectly by reducing the expression of Halloween genes, a consequence of impaired Torso signaling. However, it remains uncertain whether Torso is the sole receptor tyrosine kinase involved, and this disruption ultimately leads to decreased ecdysone production. In addition, finding a mechanism would strengthen the findings as the currently proposed mechanism is not completely supported by the data.

Reviewed by eLife

Nucleation-dependent propagation of Polycomb modifications emerges during the Drosophila maternal to zygotic transition

1. Natalie Gonzaga-Saavedra
2. Eleanor A Degen
3. Isabella V Soluri
4. Corinne Croslyn
5. Shelby A Blythe

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This study employed state-of-the-art quantitative imaging and genomics approaches to address a fundamental question regarding the establishment of Polycomb domains during Drosophila embryogenesis. The critical developmental stage was pinpointed to the maternal-to-zygotic transition, rather than earlier stages, providing clarification for the field. The roles of two factors, Zelda and GAGA-factor, were investigated, which reveal that Zelda, but not GAGA-factor, contributes to this process. These compelling findings have implications for chromatin and developmental biology.

Reviewed by eLife

Molecular dynamics of the matrisome across sea anemone life history

1. Bruno Gideon Bergheim
2. Alison G Cole
3. Mandy Rettel
4. Frank Stein
5. Stefan Redl
6. Michael W Hess
7. Aissam Ikmi
8. Suat Özbek

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This valuable study provides a comprehensive description of the Nematostella vectensis matrisome - the genes encoding the proteins of the extracellular matrix. The authors combine new mass spectrometry data with bioinformatic analyses of previously published genomic and single-cell RNAseq data. The analysis is thorough, and the discussion and conclusions are convincing. This work will be of interest to biologists working on the evolution of the matrisome, as well as more broadly those working with non-bilaterian animals.

Reviewed by eLife

Quantitative computerized analysis demonstrates strongly compartmentalized tissue deformation patterns underlying mammalian heart tube formation

1. Morena Raiola
2. Miquel Sendra
3. Jorge Nicolás Dominguez
4. Miguel Torres

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This fundamental work substantially advances our understanding of tissue deformation and growth patterns during the earliest stages of mammalian heart development. One of the strengths of the work is the compelling quantitative approach to analyzing time-lapse imaging data using an original computational pipeline, which goes beyond the current state of the art and provides new insights into heart tube formation. Overall, this rigorous study will be of broad interest to computational and developmental biologists studying tissue dynamics.

Reviewed by eLife

Sox9 prevents retinal degeneration and is required for limbal stem cell differentiation in the adult mouse eye

1. Alicia Hurtado
2. Victor López-Soriano
3. Miguel Lao
4. M Angeles Celis-Barroso
5. Pilar Lazúen
6. Alejandro Chacón-de-Castro
7. Yolanda Ramírez-Casas
8. Miguel Alaminos
9. John Martin Collinson
10. Miguel Burgos
11. Rafael Jiménez
12. F David Carmona
13. Francisco Javier Barrionuevo

• Curated by eLife

  eLife Assessment

  This useful study informs the transcriptional mechanisms that promote stem cell differentiation and prevent degeneration in the adult eye. Through inducible mouse mutagenesis, the authors uncover a dual role for a transcription factor (Sox9) in stem cell differentiation and prevention of retinal degeneration. The data at hand convincingly support to the main conclusions. The study will be of general interest to the fields of neuronal development and neurodegeneration.

Reviewed by eLife