DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01DOI: 10.1242/dev.206111
Roshana Thambyrajah
{"title":"In preprints - reading a cell in two tenses: the proteome holds the present, the transcriptome points to the future.","authors":"Roshana Thambyrajah","doi":"10.1242/dev.206111","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.206111","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article discusses the preprinted work of Thielert et al. (2026, preprint). As a preprint, this work has not yet undergone peer review.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"153 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149105538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-09DOI: 10.1242/dev.205453
Vanessa M Puñal, Valentina Caicedo-Garzón, Emma M Thornton-Kolbe, Jasmine Dhillon, Jackson A Rogow, E Josephine Clowney
{"title":"Modular presynaptic assemblages scale to postsynaptic partner number.","authors":"Vanessa M Puñal, Valentina Caicedo-Garzón, Emma M Thornton-Kolbe, Jasmine Dhillon, Jackson A Rogow, E Josephine Clowney","doi":"10.1242/dev.205453","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205453","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Behavioral diversification can arise through evolutionary and inter-individual differences in neural circuit development. In the mushroom body, which is an associative learning center of arthropods, the number of Kenyon cells (KCs) varies across species and among individuals. How such variation is developmentally accommodated by projection neurons (PNs), which provide sensory input to KCs, is not understood. In Drosophila melanogaster, we have previously demonstrated that PNs scale their presynaptic bouton number to KC population size. Here, we identify developmental mechanisms underlying this input flexibility. Boutons form on axonal collaterals; for PNs, we find that collateral number is subtype specific and serves as a substrate through which bouton number scales to KC population size. Independent of PN identity or KC number, most individual collaterals produce only one to three boutons, suggesting collaterals are modular cell biological bouton units. Developing PNs initially overproduce nascent collaterals in the early pupa. The set of nascent collaterals that form boutons and mature is conditional on KC number, thereby executing scaling. Finally, early boutons bear filopodia that contact neighboring PN processes, suggesting that bouton-bouton interactions contribute to shaping these structures.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"153 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149147080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-09-29DOI: 10.1242/dev.205448
Hui An, Hao Hu, Saijing Chen, Tingting Chen, Yafei Hu, Tongtong Yu, Anlan Wang, Shengwei Jin, Ming Li
{"title":"Postnatal heart development is coordinated by multi-lineage Wnt and BMP signaling.","authors":"Hui An, Hao Hu, Saijing Chen, Tingting Chen, Yafei Hu, Tongtong Yu, Anlan Wang, Shengwei Jin, Ming Li","doi":"10.1242/dev.205448","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205448","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early postnatal heart growth requires a transition from cardiomyocyte proliferation to enlargement and binucleation. Using morphometric, transcriptomic, signaling and single-cell analyses in neonatal mice, we show that this transition occurs predominantly between postnatal days 3.5 and 4.5 (P3.5-P4.5), accompanied by declining β-catenin abundance and increased SMAD1/5/9 phosphorylation. Pharmacological disruption of β-catenin/CBP signaling or Ctnnb1 knockdown promotes cardiomyocyte enlargement, whereas β-catenin stabilization by CHIR-99021 enhances cell-cycle activity and estimated ventricular cardiomyocyte number while limiting enlargement. Transcriptomic analysis reveals a Sox2/Zic1/Olig2 module enriched in early neural/glial cells, suggesting the onset of postnatal cardiac nervous system development. Wnt pathway components are active in endothelial, mesenchymal and neural populations during the early postnatal window, whereas BMP signaling peaks in cardiomyocytes at P6. These findings reveal a multi-lineage interplay between Wnt and BMP signaling that balances cardiomyocyte number expansion versus enlargement during early postnatal heart development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149037079","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-09-30DOI: 10.1242/dev.206125
Roshana Thambyrajah
{"title":"In preprints - making blood stem cells: how close is close enough?","authors":"Roshana Thambyrajah","doi":"10.1242/dev.206125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.206125","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article discusses version 5 of the preprinted work of Cwycyshyn et al. (2024 preprint) as well as preprinted work of Jain et al. (2026 preprint). As preprints, these works have not yet undergone peer review.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"153 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149079739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-12DOI: 10.1242/dev.205710
ShanmugaPriyaa Madhukaran, Yevgenia Fomina, Govindkumar Balagannavar, Elizabeth Payne, Jason Wilson, Lei Wang, Gary Hon, Maria Florian Rodriguez, Mala Mahendroo
{"title":"Olfactomedin 4 marks progenitor cells that give rise to the secretory cell lineage in the mouse cervix.","authors":"ShanmugaPriyaa Madhukaran, Yevgenia Fomina, Govindkumar Balagannavar, Elizabeth Payne, Jason Wilson, Lei Wang, Gary Hon, Maria Florian Rodriguez, Mala Mahendroo","doi":"10.1242/dev.205710","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205710","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Goblet cells, a specialized secretory cell type of mucosal epithelia, provide barrier function to the female lower reproductive tract. Current understanding proposes that squamous and secretory cells of the mouse cervicovaginal epithelium arise from a common Trp63+ progenitor. By contrast, in humans, a Krt8+ progenitor gives rise to endocervical secretory cells, whereas a Trp63+ progenitor gives rise to squamous cells in the ectocervix and vagina. We identify a population of Krt8+Trp63- epithelia that is retained in the mouse cervicovaginal epithelium during postnatal development and adulthood, with olfactomedin 4 (Olfm4) as a specific marker of this lineage. Adult lineage tracing and marker assessment during postnatal development support a revised model in which two epithelial progenitors are delineated by postnatal day 15. Olfm4+ progenitors give rise to goblet cells, while Trp63+ progenitors give rise to keratinocytes in the cervicovaginal canal. Consistent with goblet cell expansion in pregnancy, Olfm4+ progenitors proliferate in early gestation and progesterone promotes their differentiation. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized similarity between mice and humans in which goblet and keratinized cell subtypes are derived from two independent progenitor populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149016065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-12DOI: 10.1242/dev.206146
{"title":"The people behind the papers - Mala Mahendroo and Shanmugapriyaa Madhukaran.","authors":"","doi":"10.1242/dev.206146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.206146","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the female reproductive tract, species-specific progenitor populations in the cervix - stratified squamous progenitors in mice and columnar progenitors in humans - generate similar secretory epithelial subtypes with conserved functions. In their work, Mala Mahendroo and colleagues reveal the cellular origins of mucus-producing goblet cells by identifying olfactomedin 4 (Olfm4) as a progenitor lineage marker for goblet cells in the mouse cervix and vagina. To learn more about their work, we talked to the first author, Shanmugapriyaa Madhukaran, as well as the corresponding author, Mala Mahendroo, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"153 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149165416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-09DOI: 10.1242/dev.205389
Deeptha Vasudevan, Yi-Wen Wang, Hannah Carr, Elise Paniel, Sean Corcoran, Chris C Wreden, Elaine Kushkowski, Conor Lee-Smith, Ellie S Heckscher
{"title":"How serially homologous neuroblasts produce different temporal cohorts along the Drosophila larval body axis.","authors":"Deeptha Vasudevan, Yi-Wen Wang, Hannah Carr, Elise Paniel, Sean Corcoran, Chris C Wreden, Elaine Kushkowski, Conor Lee-Smith, Ellie S Heckscher","doi":"10.1242/dev.205389","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205389","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neural stem cells are highly flexible, generating different neuronal lineages depending on context. In the Drosophila CNS, 30 types of neural stem cells, or neuroblasts, are repeated in each segment as serial homologs, but produce distinct circuits specialized for different body regions. The full in vivo heterogeneity in stem cell development is still poorly understood. This study aimed to uncover the cellular mechanisms behind the development of regionally specialized circuits from serially homologous neuroblasts, focusing on NB3-3 lineages as a model. Using lineage tracing, Notch manipulations, marker analysis, cell death blockade and circuit tracing, we mapped neurogenesis and circuit assembly for each NB3-3 lineage across all segments. Our results show that serially homologous neuroblasts in certain regions modify proliferation patterns, adding or omitting temporal cohorts, leading to extra neurons for specialized circuits. Four types of temporal cohorts are produced, but one type, which we term a 'fundamental' temporal cohort, appears in every region. Neurons from this cohort are further refined post-mitotically, enabling regional circuit specialization. Our study reveals a framework for the heterogeneous development of serially homologous stem cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148976280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-07DOI: 10.1242/dev.205835
Ximena Gutiérrez Ramos, Katie Reding, Leslie Pick
{"title":"Segmentation gene expression and function in Vanessa cardui, an emerging model for Lepidoptera.","authors":"Ximena Gutiérrez Ramos, Katie Reding, Leslie Pick","doi":"10.1242/dev.205835","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205835","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although all insects are segmented, the genes that control this process vary across species. Many of the pair-rule (PR) genes that direct segment formation in Drosophila are similarly utilized in other holometabolous insects, but more distantly related species use different genes for PR patterning. Previously, we showed that Lepidoptera lack a highly conserved PR gene, paired. Here, we used the painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui as a lepidopteran model to explore the expression and function of PR genes in this large clade of moths and butterflies. Orthologs of four Drosophila PR genes are expressed in PR-like stripes and at least one displays PR-like function. Neither of the two genes that have PR function in Hemiptera but not in Drosophila has a PR role in Vanessa. Rather, the hemipteran PR-gene Blimp1 functions in a novel fashion in abdominal segmentation in Vanessa. Thus, while butterflies appear to share PR-patterning mechanisms with other insects, they utilize only a subset of the Drosophila PR-gene orthologs and have not taken on hemipteran PR orthologs for this process. How Vanessa patterns segments with a more limited set of PR-gene orthologs remains to be determined.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01Epub Date: 2026-10-06DOI: 10.1242/dev.205876
Ivan Kulik, Chenglei Tian 田成磊, Sabina Chubanava, Adrian Villalba, Natalie Krahmer, Raphael Scharfmann, Henrik Semb
{"title":"Parallel regulation of tissue morphogenesis and cell-fate specification by RAR:RXR signaling during pancreas formation.","authors":"Ivan Kulik, Chenglei Tian 田成磊, Sabina Chubanava, Adrian Villalba, Natalie Krahmer, Raphael Scharfmann, Henrik Semb","doi":"10.1242/dev.205876","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.205876","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During embryogenesis, morphologically diverse epithelial organs bud from different regions of the embryonic gut. The unique features of each nascent organ result from distinct cell fate specification and morphogenetic events elicited by organ-inducing cues. Retinoic acid is a powerful inducer of the pancreas, yet how it regulates pancreas specification and budding from the foregut endoderm remains poorly understood. By modeling these processes using a new human embryonic stem cell (hESC) organoid system, we demonstrate that both pancreas budding and specification are induced by RAR:RXR signaling. On the molecular level, we identify β-catenin as an important downstream target and propose that the reduction of β-catenin at the cell membrane weakens cell-cell adhesion (resulting in perturbed apical-basal cell polarity and gut epithelium multi-layering), while its nuclear depletion relieves β-catenin-mediated repression of FOXA2-dependent Pdx1 transcriptional activation. Our findings provide a new framework by which developmental cues coordinate both morphogenetic and cell specification events by targeting proteins with dual roles in cell-cell adhesion and transcription, such as β-catenin.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148988694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2026-10-01DOI: 10.1242/dev.206062
{"title":"Transitions in development - an interview with Naomi Moris.","authors":"","doi":"10.1242/dev.206062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.206062","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Naomi Moris is a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK. Naomi's lab uses in vitro embryo models derived from stem cells to study the early stages of human development and understand how the body plan is established. We spoke to Naomi online about her transition to becoming a group leader, her experience establishing new in vitro embryo models, and the importance of transparent public engagement in research on human development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"153 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149105550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}