Embryonic induction articles within Nature

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Authentic hypoblast cells created from naive human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) spontaneously assemble with naive hPSCs to form a three-dimensional bilaminar structure (bilaminoids) with a pro-amniotic-like cavity.

    • Takumi Okubo
    • , Nicolas Rivron
    •  & Yasuhiro Takashima
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The culture of genetically unmodified human naive embryonic stem cells in specific growth conditions gives rise to structures that recapitulate those of post-implantation human embryos up to 13–14 days after fertilization.

    • Bernardo Oldak
    • , Emilie Wildschutz
    •  & Jacob H. Hanna
  • Article |

    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.

    • Yoshihiro Yamanaka
    • , Sofiane Hamidi
    •  & Cantas Alev
  • Article |

    Characterization of Gibbin, encoded by AHDC1, offers insights into the epidermal and mesodermal patterning phenotypes seen in Xia–Gibbs and related syndromes in humans, which derive from abnormal mesoderm maturation as a result of gene-specific DNA methylation decisions.

    • Ann Collier
    • , Angela Liu
    •  & Anthony E. Oro
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Blastoids derived from naive PXGL-cultured human pluripotent stem cells in which Hippo, TGF-β and ERK pathways are inhibited closely recapitulate aspects of blastocyst development, form cells resembling blastocyst-stage cells and thus provide a model system for implantation and development studies.

    • Harunobu Kagawa
    • , Alok Javali
    •  & Nicolas Rivron
  • Article |

    Cryo-electron microscopy studies show that dynamic coordination of Na+ in the ion channel of Dispatched homologue 1 and the transmembrane Na+ gradient have key roles in exporting lipid-modified Hedgehog protein signal.

    • Qianqian Wang
    • , Daniel E. Asarnow
    •  & Philip A. Beachy
  • Letter |

    Stimulation of Wnt and Nodal pathways in micropatterned human embryonic stem cell colonies induce these colonies to exhibit characteristic spatial expression patterns of the organizer and reproduce organizer function when grafted into a host embryo.

    • I. Martyn
    • , T. Y. Kanno
    •  & A. H. Brivanlou
  • Letter |

    Trophoblast and embryonic stem cells interact in vitro to form structures that resemble early blastocysts, and the embryo provides signals that drive early trophectoderm development and implantation.

    • Nicolas C. Rivron
    • , Javier Frias-Aldeguer
    •  & Niels Geijsen
  • Article |

    Alx3-induced modulation of Mitf expression alters melanocyte differentiation and gives rise to the hair colour differences underlying the repeated evolution of dorsal stripes in rodents.

    • Ricardo Mallarino
    • , Corneliu Henegar
    •  & Hopi E. Hoekstra
  • Letter |

    Three papers in this issue of Nature use highly sensitive ChIP–seq assays to describe the dynamic patterns of histone modifications during early mouse embryogenesis, showing that oocytes have a distinctive epigenome and providing insights into how the maternal gene expression program transitions to the zygotic program.

    • John Arne Dahl
    • , Inkyung Jung
    •  & Arne Klungland
  • Letter |

    The zebrafish cloche gene is required for the formation of most endothelial and haematopoietic cells, however, it has been difficult to isolate; this study reveals that cloche encodes a PAS-domain-containing bHLH transcription factor, and a mammalian orthologue can partially rescue cloche mutants, indicating a possible conserved role in mammals.

    • Sven Reischauer
    • , Oliver A. Stone
    •  & Didier Y. R. Stainier
  • Letter |

    The ubiquitin ligase RLIM is known to activate the long non-coding RNA Xist, which is crucial for X-chromosome inactivation in female mice; however, unlike imprinted X-chromosome inactivation that requires RLIM for Xist expression, evidence is now provided that during random X-chromosome inactivation Xist expression is regulated by an RLIM-independent pathway in vivo.

    • JongDae Shin
    • , Mary C. Wallingford
    •  & Ingolf Bach
  • Letter |

    Genetically encoded probes for the non-peptidic morphogen retinoic acid allow the quantitative measurement of physiological RA concentration in vivo; the results support the source–sink diffusion model of morphogen dynamics proposed by Francis Crick in 1970.

    • Satoshi Shimozono
    • , Tadahiro Iimura
    •  & Atsushi Miyawaki
  • Letter |

    One of two papers showing the generation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the ventral wall of the dorsal aorta in live zebrafish embryos. Here, using imaging of live zebrafish, HSCs are shown to emerge directly from the aorta floor. This process does not involve cell division but movement of single endothelial cells out of the aorta ventral wall into the sub aortic space, where they transform into haematopoietic cells.

    • Karima Kissa
    •  & Philippe Herbomel
  • Letter |

    De novo emergence of phenotypically defined haematopoietic stem cells (Sca1+, c kit+, CD41+) directly from ventral aortic haemogenic endothelial cells is shown in mice. Although the study did not visualize live embryos, it instead developed a dissection procedure to visualize the deeply located aorta.

    • Jean-Charles Boisset
    • , Wiggert van Cappellen
    •  & Catherine Robin