DevelopmentPub Date : 2025-02-15Epub Date: 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1242/dev.204667
{"title":"An interview with Dominique Bergmann.","authors":"","doi":"10.1242/dev.204667","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.204667","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dominique Bergmann completed her PhD at the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, studying left-right asymmetry in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Her interest in cell geometry and organisation led her into the field of plant development, and she carried out postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution before establishing her own lab at Stanford University, USA. Dominique is now a Professor of Biology at Stanford and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. She has been an Editor at Development since 2023. We caught up with Dominique over Zoom to find out more about her research in the field of stomatal development, her role as an Editor, and how her passion for comparative biology has influenced her career.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"152 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143457149","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 : 2025-02-15Epub Date: 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1242/dev.204313
Laura Aviñó-Esteban, Heura Cardona-Blaya, James Sharpe
{"title":"Spatio-temporal reconstruction of gene expression patterns in developing mice.","authors":"Laura Aviñó-Esteban, Heura Cardona-Blaya, James Sharpe","doi":"10.1242/dev.204313","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204313","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding gene regulation in organism development is crucial in biology. Techniques like whole-mount in situ hybridization can reveal spatial gene expression in organs and tissues. However, capturing time-lapse movies of gene expression dynamics in embryos developing in utero, such as mice, remains technically challenging beyond the early stages. To address this, we present a method to integrate static snapshots of gene expression patterns across limb developmental stages, creating a continuous 2D reconstruction of gene expression patterns over time. This method interpolates small tissue regions over time to create smooth temporal trajectories of gene expression. We successfully applied it to a number of key genes in limb development, including Sox9, Hand2, and Bmp2. This approach enables a detailed spatio-temporal mapping of gene expression, providing insights into developmental mechanisms. By estimating gene expression patterns at previously unobserved time points, it facilitates the comparison of these patterns across samples. The reconstructed trajectories offer high-quality data that will be useful to guide computational modeling and machine learning, advancing the study of developmental biology in systems where real-time imaging is technically difficult or impossible.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"152 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11883288/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143467312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2025-02-15Epub Date: 2025-02-28DOI: 10.1242/dev.204266
Kai Gang, Qi Chen, Junhui Sun, Tingwei Zhang, Pengcheng Cai, Rui Ni, Jianlong Ma
{"title":"Khdrbs1 drives re-differentiation of bipotential progenitor cells by inhibiting p53 in zebrafish biliary-mediated liver regeneration.","authors":"Kai Gang, Qi Chen, Junhui Sun, Tingwei Zhang, Pengcheng Cai, Rui Ni, Jianlong Ma","doi":"10.1242/dev.204266","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204266","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>After severe liver injury, biliary epithelial cells (BECs) undergo de-differentiation into bipotential progenitor cells (BPPCs), which subsequently re-differentiate into nascent hepatocytes and BECs to accomplish liver regeneration. However, the crucial factors governing the re-differentiation process of BPPCs remain largely unknown. Here, using a zebrafish model of severe liver injury, we observed specific expression of khdrbs1a and khdrbs1b (collectively known as khdrbs1) in BPPCs through single-cell RNA analyses and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Subsequently, to eliminate the genetic compensation, we generated a CRISPR/dead Cas9-mediated system for interfering with khdrbs1 in BECs, which caused defective liver regeneration and impaired re-differentiation of BPPCs. Furthermore, the khdrbs1-/- mutant displayed impaired proliferation and re-differentiation of BPPCs during liver regeneration. Mechanistically, p53 signaling was activated in response to the loss of khdrbs1, and tp53 mutation partially rescued the defective liver regeneration of the khdrbs1-/- mutant. In summary, we conclude that Khdrbs1 promotes the re-differentiation of BPPCs in part by inhibiting p53 activation during biliary-mediated liver regeneration in zebrafish.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11928054/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143440304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2025-02-15Epub Date: 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1242/dev.204707
{"title":"The people behind the papers - Laura Aviñó-Esteban and James Sharpe.","authors":"","doi":"10.1242/dev.204707","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.204707","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It can be challenging to understand the dynamics of gene expression patterns when embryos develop inside a uterus, making it impossible to image changes to gene expression in real time. A new paper in Development presents a pipeline where images of mouse embryos at discrete developmental timepoints can be used to reconstruct a continuous description of gene expression changes over time. To learn more about the story behind the paper, we caught up with first author Laura Aviñó-Esteban and corresponding author James Sharpe, Head of EMBL Barcelona, Spain.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"152 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143467313","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 : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-13DOI: 10.1242/dev.204411
Xi Yang, An Yan, Xing Liu, Alexandria Volkening, Yun Zhou
{"title":"Single cell-derived multicellular meristem: insights into male-to-hermaphrodite conversion and de novo meristem formation in Ceratopteris.","authors":"Xi Yang, An Yan, Xing Liu, Alexandria Volkening, Yun Zhou","doi":"10.1242/dev.204411","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204411","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Land plants alternate between asexual sporophytes and sexual gametophytes. Unlike seed plants, ferns develop free-living gametophytes. Gametophytes of the model fern Ceratopteris exhibit two sex types: hermaphrodites with pluripotent meristems and males lacking meristems. In the absence of the pheromone antheridiogen, males convert to hermaphrodites by forming de novo meristems, although the mechanisms remain unclear. Using long-term time-lapse imaging and computational analyses, we captured male-to-hermaphrodite conversion at single-cell resolution and reconstructed the lineage and division atlas of newly formed meristems. Lineage tracing revealed that the de novo-formed meristem originates from a single non-antheridium cell: the meristem progenitor cell (MPC). During conversion, the MPC lineage showed increased mitotic activity, with marginal cells proliferating faster than inner cells. A mathematical model suggested that stochastic variation in cell division, combined with strong inhibitory signals from dividing marginal cells, is sufficient to explain gametophyte dynamics. Experimental disruption of division timing agreed with the model, showing that precise cell cycle progression is essential for MPC establishment and sex-type conversion. These findings reveal cellular mechanisms governing sex conversion and de novo meristem formation in land plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11883269/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143001979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-05DOI: 10.1242/dev.204603
{"title":"Transitions in development - an interview with Aleksandra Pękowska.","authors":"","doi":"10.1242/dev.204603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.204603","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aleksandra Pękowska leads the Dioscuri Center for Chromatin Biology and Epigenomics at the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland, where she studies the role of astrocytes in brain development. Her research connects astrocyte chromatin architecture to broader questions about how these glial cells have influenced human brain evolution. We met Aleksandra over Zoom to discuss her career path so far. She told us about how she came to work on nervous system development, the interdisciplinary nature of her research group, and how she almost ended up studying law at university.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"152 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143255023","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 : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-12DOI: 10.1242/dev.204263
Heather Marie McLaughlin, Tian-Feng Lü, Bhavani Natarajan, Lars Østergaard, Yang Dong
{"title":"Conserved roles of ETT and ARF4 in gynoecium development in Brassicaceae with distinct fruit shapes.","authors":"Heather Marie McLaughlin, Tian-Feng Lü, Bhavani Natarajan, Lars Østergaard, Yang Dong","doi":"10.1242/dev.204263","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204263","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gynoecium patterning is dependent on the dynamic distribution of auxin, the signalling of which is transduced through several distinct pathways. ETTIN (ETT)-mediated signalling occurs independently of the canonical auxin pathway, and ETT shares partial redundancy with Auxin Response Factor 4 (ARF4) in the gynoecium. ETT and ARF4 were previously hypothesized to translate auxin gradients into patterns of tissue polarity alongside other ARFs. As ARF repressors, ETT/ARF were assumed to antagonistically regulate targets shared with ARF activators of the canonical pathway. Here, comparative transcriptomics identified the distinct and overlapping targets of ETT/ARF4 in the Arabidopsis gynoecium. However, ETT/ARF4 targets with known roles in gynoecium development did not conform to models of A-B ARF antagonism, leaving the relationship with the canonical pathway unclear. Mutants in tir1 afb2 ett were therefore generated in Arabidopsis and Capsella to assess the relationship between the two pathways, and their conservation in species with distinct fruit shapes. The data presented indicate conserved synergism between the two pathways in gynoecium development and suggest a role for ARF4 in the integration of these pathways in Brassicaceae with distinct fruit shapes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":"152 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11883277/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143398727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acute inflammation induces acute megakaryopoiesis with impaired platelet production during fetal hematopoiesis.","authors":"Xiaojie Hu, Yirui He, Shengwei Li, Yue Jiang, Renjie Yu, Yi Wu, Xiaoying Fu, Yuanbin Song, Changdong Lin, Jiejun Shi, Hua-Bing Li, Yimeng Gao","doi":"10.1242/dev.204226","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204226","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hematopoietic development is tightly regulated by various factors. The role of RNA m6A modification during fetal hematopoiesis, particularly in megakaryopoiesis, remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that loss of m6A methyltransferase METTL3 induces formation of double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) and activates acute inflammation during fetal hematopoiesis in mouse. This dsRNA-mediated inflammation leads to acute megakaryopoiesis, which facilitates the generation of megakaryocyte progenitors but disrupts megakaryocyte maturation and platelet production. The inflammation and immune response activate the phosphorylation of STAT1 and IRF3, and upregulate downstream interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Inflammation inhibits the proliferation rate of hematopoietic progenitors and further skews the cell fate determination toward megakaryocytes rather than toward erythroid from megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitors (MEPs). Transcriptional-wide gene expression analysis identifies IGF1 as a major factor whose reduction is responsible for the inhibition of megakaryopoiesis and thrombopoiesis. Restoration of IGF1 with METTL3-deficient hematopoietic cells significantly increases megakaryocyte maturation. In summary, we elucidate that the loss of RNA m6A modification-induced acute inflammation activates acute megakaryopoiesis, but impairs its final maturation through the inhibition of IGF1 expression during fetal hematopoiesis.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143001973","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 : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-12DOI: 10.1242/dev.204591
Ashley R G Libby, Tiago Rito, Arthur Radley, James Briscoe
{"title":"An in vivo CRISPR screen in chick embryos reveals a role for MLLT3 in specification of neural cells from the caudal epiblast.","authors":"Ashley R G Libby, Tiago Rito, Arthur Radley, James Briscoe","doi":"10.1242/dev.204591","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204591","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tissue development relies on the coordinated differentiation of stem cells in dynamically changing environments. The formation of the vertebrate neural tube from stem cells in the caudal lateral epiblast is a well-characterized example. Despite an understanding of the signalling pathways involved, the gene regulatory mechanisms remain poorly defined. To address this, we developed a multiplexed in vivo CRISPR screening approach in chick embryos targeting genes expressed in the caudal epiblast and neural tube. This revealed a role for MLLT3, a component of the super elongation complex, in the specification of neural fate. Perturbation of MLLT3 disrupted neural tube morphology and reduced neural fate acquisition. Mutant forms of retinoic acid receptor A lacking the MLLT3 binding domain similarly reduced neural fate acquisition. Together, these findings validate an in vivo CRISPR screen strategy in chick embryos and identify a previously unreported role for MLLT3 in caudal neural tissue specification.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11883246/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142970056","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
DevelopmentPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2025-02-07DOI: 10.1242/dev.204227
Fiona K M Cheung, Chun-Wei Allen Feng, Clare Crisp, Yuji Mishina, Cassy M Spiller, Josephine Bowles
{"title":"BMP and STRA8 act collaboratively to ensure correct mitotic-to-meiotic transition in the fetal mouse ovary.","authors":"Fiona K M Cheung, Chun-Wei Allen Feng, Clare Crisp, Yuji Mishina, Cassy M Spiller, Josephine Bowles","doi":"10.1242/dev.204227","DOIUrl":"10.1242/dev.204227","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A successful mitosis-to-meiosis transition in germ cells is essential for fertility in sexually reproducing organisms. In mice and humans, it has been established that expression of STRA8 is crucial for meiotic onset in both sexes. Here, we show that BMP signalling is also essential, not for STRA8 induction but for correct meiotic progression in female mouse fetal germ cells. Largely in agreement with evidence from primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) in vitro, germ cell-specific deletion of BMP receptor 1A (BMPR1A; ALK3) caused aberrant retention of pluripotency marker OCT4 and meiotic progression was compromised; however, the timely onset of Stra8 and STRA8 expression was unaffected. Comparing the transcriptomes of Bmpr1a-cKO and Stra8-null models, we reveal interplay between the effects of BMP signalling and STRA8 function. Our results verify a role for BMP signalling in instructing germ cell meiosis in female mice in vivo, and shed light on the regulatory mechanisms underlying fetal germ cell development.</p>","PeriodicalId":11375,"journal":{"name":"Development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11829761/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143001975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}