Developmental biology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Epithelial sheet migration proceeds via a series of actomyosin contractions, called pulses, that are stabilized, or ratcheted. Here, Xie and Martin develop a computational framework to determine how pulses are coordinated, and show that ratcheting of pulses allows collective migration by preventing competition with neighbouring pulses.

    • Shicong Xie
    •  & Adam C. Martin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The protein factors that bind to regulatory regions in the genome have not been systematically mapped. Here the authors performed chromatin immunoprecipitations for histone modifications associated with promoters, enhancers or heterochromatin in mouse embryonic stem cells and assigned a genome location to many factors important for pluripotency.

    • Erik Engelen
    • , Johannes H. Brandsma
    •  & Raymond A. Poot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Adult cardiac progenitor/stem cells (CPSCs) possess valuable potential for heart repair that is limited by the elusiveness of these cells. Here Noseda et al. refine the definition of murine CPSCs producing stem cell antigen 1 (Sca1), mapping the cardiogenic signature and clonogenicity to the subgroup of Sca1+cells expressing PDGFRα.

    • Michela Noseda
    • , Mutsuo Harada
    •  & Michael D. Schneider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    LIF/STAT3 signalling characterizes naive pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), but whether this pathway can sustain a similar state in human cells is not completely understood. Here the authors show that LIF stimulation and enhancement of STAT3 activity allow human ESCs to escape from FGF2 dependency and facilitates their entry into a naive-like state of pluripotency.

    • Hongwei Chen
    • , Irène Aksoy
    •  & Pierre Savatier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neurons in the brain are more susceptible to oxidative stress than astroglial cells but the molecular basis and biological reasons for this are poorly understood. Here the authors show that developing cortical neurons have reduced levels of the antioxidant transcription factor Nrf2 due to epigenetic silencing and that this is necessary for proper neuronal development.

    • Karen F.S. Bell
    • , Bashayer Al-Mubarak
    •  & Giles E. Hardingham

  • Article |

    The transcriptional regulation of morphogenetic effectors during eye development is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that transcription of an endocytosis regulator Opois crucial for the neural retina development in zebrafish and activated by the interaction of the transcription factor Vsx2 and retinal enhancer H6_10137.

    • Ines Gago-Rodrigues
    • , Ana Fernández-Miñán
    •  & Juan R. Martinez-Morales

  • Article |

    Angiogenesis is regulated by dynamic changes in endothelial cell contact. Here, the authors show that signals from endothelial cell junctions affect the subcellular localization and function of Yes-associated protein, ultimately modifying angiopoietin-2 expression and angiogenic activity of endothelial cells.

    • Hyun-Jung Choi
    • , Haiying Zhang
    •  & Young-Guen Kwon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How morphogen gradients induce complex gene expression programmes in the receiving cells is poorly understood. Here the authors use a quantitative approach to show that inC. elegansvulva induction cells control morphogen-induced gene expression by changing their sensitivity to the morphogen.

    • Jeroen Sebastiaan van Zon
    • , Simone Kienle
    •  & Alexander van Oudenaarden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pigment pattern formation in zebrafish depends on the interactions between the pigment cells. Here the authors present a mathematical model based on mutual interaction of pigment cells in the absence of cell motion, revising the current model of the pattern formation that relies on reaction–diffusion Turing patterns.

    • D. Bullara
    •  & Y. De Decker

  • Article |

    During vertebrate embryogenesis, migration of neuronal cell bodies and axons occurs simultaneously, but to what degree they influence each other’s development remains unclear. Here the authors find that in the mouse spinal cord commissural axons influence neuronal migration in two different ways.

    • Christophe Laumonnerie
    • , Yong Guang Tong
    •  & Sara I. Wilson

  • Article |

    Cochlear sensory hair cells produced during development are not replaced after loss so converting the surrounding supporting cells into hair cells could be a potential regenerative strategy. Here the authors show that hair cells can be directly generated from adjacent supporting cells in developing mouse embryos by inhibition of ephrin-B2 signalling.

    • Jean Defourny
    • , Susana Mateo Sánchez
    •  & Brigitte Malgrange

  • Article |

    Differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into neural lineages involves epigenetic changes. Here the authors show that transient histone deacetylation promotes the transition from epiblast stem cells to neural progenitors during mouse ESC differentiation and show that this effect is partly mediated by the restriction of Nodal signalling by histone deacetylase 1.

    • Pingyu Liu
    • , Xiaoyang Dou
    •  & Naihe Jing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Guidepost cells provide guidance cues that orient growing axons in the brain but little is known about the midline guidepost cells that populate the mouse anterior commissure (AC). Here, the authors show that the transcription factor Nkx2.1 regulates the differentiation of astroglia and neurons that cooperate to guide AC axons through the expression of Slit2.

    • Shilpi Minocha
    • , Delphine Valloton
    •  & Cécile Lebrand

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of the amniote middle ear remains unclear. Here, the authors show that inactivation of the Edn1-Dlx5/6 cascade during development results in loss of the tympanic membrane in mouse and duplication in chicken, which suggests independent evolution of the tympanic membrane in different amniotes.

    • Taro Kitazawa
    • , Masaki Takechi
    •  & Hiroki Kurihara

  • Article |

    Auditory sensory hair cells detect sounds by deflection of their actin-based stereocilia, which vary in length. By inducing expression of GFP-actin in mouse hair cells in vivo, Narayanan et al. demonstrate that stereocilia length is regulated by very slow actin turnover, which is restricted to the tips.

    • Praveena Narayanan
    • , Paul Chatterton
    •  & Benjamin J. Perrin

  • Article |

    Aging leads to impaired differentiation and increased pool size of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Here, the authors show that wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (Wip1), a negative regulator of DNA damage response pathways, regulates aging-associated HSC differentiation and expansion viap53 and mTORC1 pathways, respectively.

    • Zhiyang Chen
    • , Weiwei Yi
    •  & Zhenyu Ju

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The differentiation of spinal motor neurons (MNs) from mouse and human embryonic stem cells provides opportunities to model MN development and disease, but most protocols produce only a subset of the MN subtypes found in vivo. Here the authors show that limb projecting lateral motor column MNs can be efficiently generated though the expression of Foxp1.

    • Katrina L. Adams
    • , David L. Rousso
    •  & Bennett G. Novitch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Claspers are copulatory organs found in male cartilaginous fishes. Here, the authors show that androgen receptor signalling maintains the Shh pathway to promote clasper development in male skates and suggest the importance of hormonal regulation in the evolution of male copulatory organs.

    • Katherine L. O’Shaughnessy
    • , Randall D. Dahn
    •  & Martin J. Cohn

  • Article |

    In response to injury, satellite cells (SCs) asymmetrically divide to self-renew and repair muscle. Here the authors show that a cytokine G-CSF is crucial for long-term expansion of activated SCs and muscle regeneration in mice, suggesting that G-CSF treatment may have beneficial effect in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

    • Nozomi Hayashiji
    • , Shinsuke Yuasa
    •  & Keiichi Fukuda

  • Article |

    Alveoli are the lung’s functional units composed of two major epithelial cell types, type I and type II. Type II cells are adult lung stem cells, but this study shows that differentiated Type I cells can also self-renew and give rise to Type II cells, revealing a bidirectional relationship between lung epithelial cell types.

    • Rajan Jain
    • , Christina E. Barkauskas
    •  & Jonathan A. Epstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The bidirectional Eph-ephrin signalling regulates a myriad of developmental programmes. Zhang et al. show that EphB4 forward signalling is crucial for lymphatic valve development, providing new insight into this important developmental process previously thought to be regulated by ephrinB2-dependent reverse signalling.

    • Gu Zhang
    • , John Brady
    •  & Minhong Yan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Long non-coding RNAs or lincRNAs identified in embryonic stem (ES) cells have been shown to regulate ES cell states; however, how these lincRNAs are regulated remains unclear. Here the authors show that the transcriptional coactivator Pontin regulates the expression of lincRNAs involved in ES cell maintenance in an Oct4-dependent manner.

    • Kyungjin Boo
    • , Jinhyuk Bhin
    •  & Sung Hee Baek

  • Article |

    Sequential segmentation in development is best described in vertebrates, where it relies on cell proliferation and shows regular periodicity. Here, the authors show that in the flour beetle segments are added with irregular rate and their elongation during periods of fast growth relies mostly on cell movements.

    • A. Nakamoto
    • , S. D. Hester
    •  & T. A. Williams

  • Article |

    The protein kinase Rio1 is known to promote 40S ribosome formation in the cytoplasm. Using budding yeast, the authors here show that Rio1 also acts in the nucleus, downregulates rDNA transcription by Pol I, and activates the processing of its transcripts to ensure rDNA stability and segregation.

    • Maria G. Iacovella
    • , Cristina Golfieri
    •  & Peter De Wulf

  • Article |

    Higher order chromatin structures affect gene transcription, but how they determine cell fate is unclear. Here, the authors show that OCT4 and SALL4 alter the higher-order chromatin structure and mediate cell fate switching in embryonic cells by targeting cohesin and polycomb complexes, respectively.

    • Nesrine Abboud
    • , Thomas Moore- Morris
    •  & Michel Pucéat

  • Article |

    The balancing apparatus of the inner ear relies on the mechanosensory activity of hair cells (HC), which are poorly regenerated upon loss in adult mammals. Here, the authors show that in newborn mice HC regenerate through proliferation and transdifferentiation of activated striolar supporting cells that express Lgr5.

    • Tian Wang
    • , Renjie Chai
    •  & Alan G. Cheng

  • Article |

    Despite apparent morphological diversity, developmental interactions create predictable patterns of variation. Here the authors show that variation in the proportion of limbs, digits and somites and their response to artificial selection follow a rule that predicts the size of sequentially forming structures.

    • Nathan M. Young
    • , Benjamin Winslow
    •  & Kathryn Kavanagh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Several pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans undergo transitions between single-celled forms and multicellular filaments. Here the authors perform a genome-scale analysis of C. albicansand show that, contrary to common belief, filamentation is not required for escape from host immune cells.

    • Teresa R. O’Meara
    • , Amanda O. Veri
    •  & Leah E. Cowen

  • Article |

    Basal-like breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with poor prognosis; however, its cellular origins and aetiology are poorly understood. Here the authors provide evidence that ID4 is a key controller of mammary stem/progenitor cell self-renewal, acting upstream of Notch signalling to repress luminal fate commitment.

    • Simon Junankar
    • , Laura A. Baker
    •  & Alexander Swarbrick

  • Article |

    Skeletal development relies on endochondral ossification. Here the authors show that transcription factors Foxc1 and Gli2 interact to modulate expression of Ihh target genes that control endochondral ossification, and that disruption of this interaction partly underlies skeletal disorders in the Axenfeld–Rieger syndrome.

    • Michiko Yoshida
    • , Kenji Hata
    •  & Toshiyuki Yoneda

  • Article |

    Maternal molecular resources are invested in an egg so that different parts of the future embryo are specified and scaled in proportion to its size. Here the authors develop and experimentally test a model that evaluates the origins and limits of Bicoid morphogenetic gradient scaling in the fruit fly embryo.

    • Feng He
    • , Chuanxian Wei
    •  & Jun Ma

  • Article |

    Pruning of newly formed blood vessels is an important and yet poorly understood aspect of angiogenesis. Here the authors show that endothelial phosphotyrosine-dependent EphrinB2 signalling represses JNK3 function via STAT1, and identify JNK3 as an effector of endothelial cell death and vessel pruning in mice.

    • Ombretta Salvucci
    • , Hidetaka Ohnuki
    •  & Giovanna Tosato

  • Article |

    The neocortex is a mammalian-specific structure that is responsible for higher functions but details of how it evolved are lacking. Here the authors show that the transposable element family MER130 is highly enriched among the enhancers in the developing mouse neocortex, suggesting a role in the evolution of this structure.

    • James H. Notwell
    • , Tisha Chung
    •  & Gill Bejerano

  • Article |

    Applications of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) for disease modelling or cell therapy are hindered by low efficiency and heterogeneity of target cell types differentiated from hPSCs, such as motor neurons (MNs). Here the authors develop a method to derive highly pure motor neuron progenitor populations from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells that yield functional MNs.

    • Zhong-Wei Du
    • , Hong Chen
    •  & Su-Chun Zhang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In asymmetrically dividing cells, both spindle-dependent and spindle-independent cleavage furrow positioning pathways are involved in cytokinesis. Here the authors find that Survivin and the mitotic spindle are required to stabilize the position of the cleavage furrow and to complete cytokinesis in Drosophilaneuroblasts.

    • Michaela Roth
    • , Chantal Roubinet
    •  & Clemens Cabernard

  • Article |

    The lipid kinase PI3KC2α is essential for embryogenesis, yet its role in adult homeostasis is unknown. Here, the authors show that PI3KC2α regulates the structure of the internal membrane reserves of murine megakaryocytes and platelets, affecting the platelets’ adhesiveness and prothrombotic function.

    • Jessica K. Mountford
    • , Claire Petitjean
    •  & Shaun P. Jackson

  • Article |

    In embryonic stem cells, extracellular signals are required to derepress developmental promoters to drive lineage specification, but the proteins involved in this process remain unknown. Here the authors show that the protein HEB directly associates with the Polycomb repressive complex 2 at genes involved in mesoderm and endoderm specification.

    • Se-Jin Yoon
    • , Joseph W. Foley
    •  & Julie C. Baker

  • Article |

    In many plants, male meiosis involves two rounds of chromosome separation without cell division, resulting in two spindles in a single cell. Here Brownfield et al. show that an organelle band acts as a physical barrier between the spindles to ensure accurate chromosome segregation.

    • Lynette Brownfield
    • , Jun Yi
    •  & Claudia Köhler

  • Article |

    The role of integrin β1 in angiogenesis is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that integrin β1 regulates murine angiogenesis and adherens junction integrity by controlling VE-cadherin localization, myosin light chain phosphorylation and the function of the Rap1/MRCK and Rho/Rho-kinase pathways.

    • Hiroyuki Yamamoto
    • , Manuel Ehling
    •  & Ralf H. Adams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Autism genes converge in midfetal cortical co-expression networks, and chromatin regulators such as CHD8 are increasingly associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here the authors map CHD8 targets in developing brain, and find that CHD8 directly regulates other ASD risk genes during human neurodevelopment.

    • Justin Cotney
    • , Rebecca A. Muhle
    •  & James P. Noonan

  • Article |

    The epigenetic factor Bmi1 regulates self-renewal of many adult stem cells, but its role in heart function is unknown. Here the authors show that Bmi1 prevents cardiac senescence by inhibiting the tumor suppressor protein p16INK4ain adult mice, protecting them from dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure.

    • I. Gonzalez-Valdes
    • , I. Hidalgo
    •  & S. Gonzalez

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Developmental biology across other nature.com journals