Body patterning articles from across Nature Portfolio

During somitogenesis, the dynamic oscillation of the molecular clock is converted into static spatial patterns. Here, the authors show that persistent suppression of Tbx6 expression triggered by periodical Ripply1/2 gene expression is a key to this conversion.

The Hedgehog morphogen creates gradients during development, but diffusion alone cannot explain its spatiotemporal dynamics. Hedgehog transport requires binding heparan sulfate sugar chains, and the authors now show that Hedgehogs can spread by interacting with sequential heparan molecules.

A 3D model of human segmentation and somitogenesis derived from induced pluripotent stem cells captures the oscillatory dynamics of the segmentation clock as well as morphological and molecular features of the developing embryonic axis and tail.

The authors identify Nuclear receptor subfamily 6 group A member 1 (Nr6a1) as a master regulator of elongation, segmentation, patterning and lineage allocation specifically within the trunk region of the mouse, acting downstream of the major signals known to control vertebral column formation.

Vascular addressins control lymphocyte homing, thus regulating immunity and inflammation, but how addressin expression is patterned remains unknown. Here the authors identify composite DNA elements (NCCEs) that bind NKX2 homeodomain proteins cooperatively with COUP-TFII to define a morphogenetic code that targets transcription of mucosal vascular addressins.

Using different genetic mice models, Sung et al. show that VEGF-C/VEGFR3 signaling is required for sinusoidal vascular growth in the fetal liver and bone marrow. CDH5 (VE-cadherin) negatively regulates VEGF-C/VEGFR3 signaling and sinusoidal and lymphatic growth. Loss of CDH5 enables growth of sinusoidal and lymphatic vessels in the absence of VEGFR3 signaling through VEGF-C/VEGFR2 signaling.