Developmental Biology

Vinculin recruitment to α-catenin halts the differentiation and maturation of enterocyte progenitors to maintain homeostasis of the Drosophila intestine

1. Jerome Bohere
2. Buffy L Eldridge-Thomas
3. Golnar Kolahgar

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This study examines a potential mechanosensation mechanism in fly intestinal stem cells and their terminal enteroblast progeny. The manuscript’s data clearly demonstrate a role for vinc in suppressing the proliferation of midgut stem cells and the differentiation of their terminal enteroblast progeny and suggest that this role is exerted specifically through enteroblast vinc. The authors find that similar phenotypes are induced by genetic manipulations of vinc, a-cat, and myosin, and they argue that this similarity implies that vinc activity in enteroblasts is mechanosensitive. These findings are potentially relevant to biologists interested in stem cells, tissue homeostasis, fate decisions, and mechanobiology. Initial studies of vinc null flies failed to reveal any essential functions in development or viability, so the report of an adult-specific phenotype in the intestine is notable. However, the current manuscript falls short of demonstrating a key pillar of its model – that enteroblast vinc is regulated by mechanical tension. In addition, some important experiments using either whole-animal mutants or cell-specific manipulations leave room for alternate interpretations.

  (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

An epithelial signalling centre in sharks supports homology of tooth morphogenesis in vertebrates

1. Alexandre P Thiery
2. Ariane SI Standing
3. Rory L Cooper
4. Gareth J Fraser

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Thiery et al. propose that the development of shark teeth employ a similar embryonic signaling center as the development of mammalian teeth. The implication is that the regulatory logic of tooth development is an ancient, shared feature among vertebrates. The research will be of interest to the developmental as well as evolutionary biology readers.

  (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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

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The transcriptional corepressor CTBP-1 acts with the SOX family transcription factor EGL-13 to maintain AIA interneuron cell identity in Caenorhabditis elegans

1. Josh Saul
2. Takashi Hirose
3. H Robert Horvitz

Reviewed by Review Commons

Visually induced changes in cytokine production in the chick choroid

1. Jody A Summers
2. Elizabeth Martinez

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of general interest to basic researchers and clinician-scientists working on the eye and vision, developmental and inflammatory eye disorders, and cell-cell signalling in vascular tissue. Experiments are well designed, the resulting data are of very high quality, and their significance is not over-interpreted. The approach and findings with regard to myopia are quite novel, revealing exciting new possibilities for understanding the visual regulation of eye growth, with some overlap into understanding regulatory mechanisms in inflammation.

  (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.)”

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Regeneration of the larval sea star nervous system by wounding induced respecification to the Sox2 lineage

1. Minyan Zheng
2. Olga Zueva
3. Veronica F Hinman

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript presents a careful study of nervous system regeneration in the larval sea star using new transgenic tools for marking and following cells involved in regeneration. The authors find that these animals can regenerate their nervous system by the re-specification of existing cells, which are induced to express the embryonic neurogenesis program. The experimental approach is robust and creative and the data interpretation sound. For its contribution to our understanding of how cells are induced to contribute to specific cell lineages during regeneration, this work will be of interest to the broad community of researchers inregenerative and developmental biology.

  (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

Correct regionalization of a tissue primordium is essential for coordinated morphogenesis

1. Yara E Sánchez-Corrales
2. Guy B Blanchard
3. Katja Röper

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Sanchez et al investigate how morphogenetic movements driving epithelial tube formation are patterned to occur with the correct spatiotemporal dynamics, a fundamental question in developmental biology. By correlating dynamic patterns of transcription factor expression with rigorous, quantitative analyses of cell behaviors across the salivary gland primordium, their results suggest Hkb and Fkh transcription factor patterning induces switches in cell behaviors at fixed positions to promote continued morphogenesis of the tubular structure. This mechanism is likely to be more generally important for the development of complex tubular organs.

  (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 #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

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The E3 ubiquitin ligase mindbomb1 controls planar cell polarity-dependent convergent extension movements during zebrafish gastrulation

1. Vishnu Muraleedharan Saraswathy
2. Akshai Janardhana Kurup
3. Priyanka Sharma
4. Sophie Polès
5. Morgane Poulain
6. Maximilian Fürthauer

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This manuscript describes a novel role of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Mindbomb1 (Mib1), a known key regulator of Notch signaling, in regulating convergent extension movements of the zebrafish gastrula, which are dependent on planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling. The authors show that the ability of Mib1 to modulate PCP is totally dependent on the receptor tyrosine kinase Ryk via endocytosis. This paper will be of interest to scientists studying cell signaling and cell movement.

  (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.)

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Development and genetics of red coloration in the zebrafish relative Danio albolineatus

1. Delai Huang
2. Victor M Lewis
3. Tarah N Foster
4. Matthew B Toomey
5. Joseph C Corbo
6. David M Parichy

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  Huang et al. address an intriguing question of pigment cell diversification in vertebrates, namely what is the relationship between (yellow) xanthophores and (red) erythrophores. Their data point to a very close relationship between the two cell types, consistent with the view that they are similar cell types differing principally in the details of their pigment biochemistry. The paper will be of interest to scientists across across a range of the many disciplines within pigmentary biology, including developmental biologists, evolutionary biologists, and those who study the chemistry of pigmentation.

  (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.)

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ZAF, the first open source fully automated feeder for aquatic facilities

1. Merlin Lange
2. AhmetCan Solak
3. Shruthi Vijay Kumar
4. Hirofumi Kobayashi
5. Bin Yang
6. Loïc Alain Royer

Reviewed by Review Commons

Tbx5 drives Aldh1a2 expression to regulate a RA-Hedgehog-Wnt gene regulatory network coordinating cardiopulmonary development

1. Scott A Rankin
2. Jeffrey D Steimle
3. Xinan H Yang
4. Ariel B Rydeen
5. Kunal Agarwal
6. Praneet Chaturvedi
7. Kohta Ikegami
8. Michael J Herriges
9. Ivan P Moskowitz
10. Aaron M Zorn

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The formation of the cardiopulmonary circuit is a vital terrestrial adaptation, and precise mechanisms defining how the heart and lung co-develop would be interesting to a broad developmental biology audience. In this manuscript, Rankin et al. propose a nuanced model that bridges previous observations regarding the role of Tbx5 and retinoic acid in forming the cardiopulmonary circuit. This manuscript nicely utilizes forward and reverse genetic approaches in Xenopus model system to rigorously study to describe a Tbx5-Aldh1a2- Shh pathway that leads to reciprocal mesoderm-endoderm interactions and co-induction of segmental heart and lung identities.

  (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