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devbiol.bsky.social
Developmental Biology
@devbiol.bsky.social
3.4K followers 51 following 310 posts
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/developmental-biology
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Review

Integration of the sensory and skeletal systems: A classical perspective on neuromast-bone interactions

Osteogenic potential of neuromast organs

by Alyssa Hamm, Joshua Gross
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The positions of canal neuromasts, the lateral line canal, and bones of the facial complex are anatomically integrated.
January 12, 2026 at 1:30 PM
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Embryonic exposure to Smoothened Agonist overactivates the Hh signaling pathway, affecting the cell cycle and inhibiting proliferation, leading to cleft tongue

By C Mao, Y Jiang, Z Li, W Zhou, Y Lai, C Wang, M Lu, W Chen

tinyurl.com/zeeb95t8
Cartoon of a white pregnant mouse being injected with SAG. Diagram of the developing tongue in control conditions, with mesenchymal cell sin blue and myoblasts in red, and in the SAG condition, with a visible cleft between the my blast cells.
January 9, 2026 at 9:40 AM
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Tbx1-dependent and independent pathways promote six gene expression downstream of retinoic acid signaling to determine cardiomyocyte number in zebrafish

by Tiffany Duong, Joshua Waxman et al
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
RA-deficient DM have a reduction in the number of Nkx2.5+ CMs at 48 hpf
January 8, 2026 at 1:39 PM
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🚨Introducing DevBioConnect‼️
Developmental Biology launches a new author webinar series showcasing recent publications, presented by the authors

🗓️ Jan 13 • Feb 10 • Mar 10, 2026
⏰ 11am–12pm CST

To Register
www.sdbonline.org/meetings
Or📄 See flyer for details

@socdevbio.bsky.social
January 7, 2026 at 5:59 PM
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Pax9 has a broader role in initiating development of mesenchymal structures around the mouth during zebrafish development

By Sandhya Paudel, Sarah McLeod, Stefani Gjorcheska, Lindsey Barske

tinyurl.com/yc3jfpux
Cartoon of Pax9 expression (purple) during facial development in mouse (left) and zebrafish (right). Text: Mammals. Pax9 is expressed In tooth-forming mesenchyme around the mouth. Required for tooth formation in mouse and human. Fish. Pax9 is also expressed in oral mesenchyme in fishes. But many fish do not form oral teeth. Vestigial expression or divergent function? Result: pax9 is required for formation of upper jaw bones and barbels in zebrafish, but dispensable for non-oral teeth. Support ancestral function in building peri-oral structures from condensed mesenchyme rather than a specific requirement for teeth
January 7, 2026 at 10:34 AM
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Review

Multifaceted roles of sonic hedgehog signaling in mammalian inner ear development

Shh confers cochlear apical identity and regulates tonotopy establishment.

by Tianli Qin, Marianne Bronner
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Shh signaling regulates both sensory and non-sensory development in the cochlea.
January 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM
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Wish our authors and readers a Happy Holiday & a fruitful 2026!🥳🥳🥳
December 24, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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scRNA-seq reveals a follicular cell population with elevated ovarian development genes in cavefish, which continue reproducing during starvation

By F Xia, A Santacruz, D Wu, S Bertho, E Fritz, P Morales-Sosa, S McKinney, SH Nowotarski, N Rohner

tinyurl.com/yvp772y4
Ovary characterization revealed unique characteristics in cavefish compared to surface fish. (A) Representative H&E-stained ovary sections from three fish populations at 500 to 600 dpf. Scale bar, 300 μm. Different stages of oocytes (stage Ib, II and III) are labeled. (B) Oocyte size (diameter) measurement in different developmental stages of surface fish, Pachón and Molino. (C) Single-cell UMAP plot of the adult fish ovaries from A. mexicanus. Cells are color-coded by computationally determined cell clusters. (D) DEGs between surface fish and cavefish in eight annotated cell clusters. (E) Dot plot of gene expression in follicular somatic cells. Selected genes are involved in hormone responses, synthesis or OXPHOS pathways. (F) PCA plot of transcriptomic profiles of oocytes at different size categories in three fish populations.
December 19, 2025 at 1:33 PM
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Unravelling early hematoendothelial development through the chick model: Insights and future perspectives

by Lydia Pouncey, Gi Fay Mok @gifaymok.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Vascular development in the early chick embryo
December 18, 2025 at 2:53 PM
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A non-invasive imaging-based technique for assessing cell interface mechanics during PCP-dependent polarization in the cortex

by Shinuo Weng, John Wallingford et al @shinuoweng.bsky.social @jbwallingford.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/2sa8wefy
TFlux reliably reports relative cell cortex tension in vivo
December 17, 2025 at 9:32 AM
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Positive-negative Selection: The counterselection breakthrough that conventionalized reverse genetics in the mouse

by Anthea Letsou
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Research History of Developmental Genetics with Animal Models
December 16, 2025 at 11:02 AM
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Cryptic genetic variation can be revealed by mutations or environmental factors that destabilize homeostatic mechanisms, producing phenotypic variants as a substrate for selection

By H. Frederik Nijhout

tinyurl.com/4dww8f3h
#SpecialIssue in research that transformed #DevBio
Phenotypic landscape of the velocity of the TS reaction (the rate-limiting step in DNA synthesis) as a function of activity of MTHFR and GNMT. A, wild-type conditions. Yellow sphere indicated wild-type; white spheres are mutations that lower the activity of the enzymes to 70 % and 35 % of wild-type. B, vitamin B12 deficiency (which lowers the activity of MS). A B12 deficiency destabilizes the TS reaction and the effects of mutations that increase TS activity are enhanced. (GNMT, glycine-N-methyltransferase; MTHFR, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase; TS, thymidylate synthase).
December 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
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How Betty Hay's findings significantly advanced the fields of cell plasticity and regenerative biology

by Alejandra Beltrán-Rivera, José García-Arrarás
tinyurl.com/55nhr4uv

#SpecialIssue on research that transformed #DevBio
Elizabeth Hay's groundbreaking observations on amphibian limb regeneration
December 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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Fate mapping approaches and scRNA-seq uncover how the avascular mesenchyme is critical to the normal outgrowth and patterning of digits

By C Batho-Samblas, J Smith, L Keavey, N Clancy, L McTeir, and MG Davey

tinyurl.com/2t6dau56

#SpecialIssue in #Avian Model Systems
Schematic of a developing avian hindlimb, highlighting the interdigital area (orange), digital ray (green), and avascular mesenchyme (AVM, white). Zoom in 1: "In communication to distal and proximal elements", show the tip of the digital ray (PFR)sending unknown signals to the apical ectodermal ridge (AER, yellow), which in turn communicated back with Fgf8 signal. These signals accumulate in the AVM. Zoom in 2: "Progenitor to the digits", the signals from the AER pass through the AVM into the PFR. Zoom in 3: "Joint patterning/specification", the signals induce a new phalanx segment.
December 4, 2025 at 9:50 AM
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Canonical Wnt pathway modulation is required to correctly execute multiple independent cellular dynamic programs during cranial neural tube closure

by Amber Bogart, Eric Brooks
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Apc-cIN mutants show failure of apical constriction and altered actin organization at elevation stages.
December 3, 2025 at 8:51 AM
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Application of the Magnet-Cre optogenetic system in the chicken model

by Michael Pfann, Yuval Cinnamon et al

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Developed pipeline for optogene expression, activation and imaging in chicken embryos
December 2, 2025 at 10:46 AM
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Identification of the dysregulated let-7c-Sox2 network in the facial prominences of mouse embryos with early retinoid acid exposure

by Chao Song, Yi Zou, et al
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Immunohistochemical analysis of the expression of Sox2 in the facial prominences of mouse embryos
December 2, 2025 at 7:52 AM
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Recent studies shaped the current view that the neural plate border is a transient region of multipotent progenitors that co-express competing gene modules and remain fate-undecided until early somite stages

By Andrea Streit

tinyurl.com/3h3k8vkv

#SpecialIssue in #Avian Model Systems
Subdivision of the neural plate border and gene expression. A. At HH5/6 the neural plate border (pink) surrounds the anterior neural plate (grey). B. Overlapping gene expression at the neural plate border at the level of the dotted line in A. Details are described in the text. C. Gene expression along the anterior-posterior axis of the neural plate border at a stage shown in A. Note: all genes except for Pax6 are also expressed in the neural plate at the same rostro-caudal levels. D. At HH8-9 Pax6 (orange) is expressed anteriorly encompassing olfactory and lens precursors, Pax3 labels the ophthalmic portion of the trigeminal placode and Pax2 marks otic-epibranchial progenitors. Neural crest cell markers are concentrated in the neural folds (green). E. Nested gene expression domains in the placode territory at the stage shown in D. F. At HH10, the placode domains are largely distinct, although cells are still recruited into these domains. Epibranchial placodes have not yet separated. Neural crest cells have begun to migrate anteriorly but are mostly still within the neural tube in more posterior regions.
December 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
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Maternal ovo represses the expression of transposable elements in Drosophila adult ovaries, likely via piRNA synthesis.

By Makoto Hayashi, Yuica Koga, Yasuhiro Kozono, Satoru Kobayashi

tinyurl.com/2azdw4z4
Schematic of Drosophila development from embryo (before stage 6 and after stage 14), to larva, to adult, following the germ cells expressing Ovo over time. Maternal Ovo protein in green; piRNA synthesis genes (sub, chi, Boot, tej) and piRNAs in pink; Transposon expression in yellow, inhibited by piRNA.
December 1, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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A new powerful live imaging platform tracks Erk signalling dynamics in developing zebrafish hepatocytes at single-cell resolution.

By Faraz Ahmed Butt, Alessandro De Simone, Stefano Di Talia, Kenneth Poss

tinyurl.com/ve5vzp6c
A. Schematic of imaging experiment, with drawings of zebrafish larvae at 3dpf and 7dpf underneath a timeline of imaging every 8 hours. B. (Top) Heatmap of Erk activity at single cell resolution; (Bottom) Raw images of Erk-KTR-mCerulean signal. Scale bar: 100 μm.
November 25, 2025 at 12:35 PM
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Distinct functional domains of ASCL1 uniquely control neuronal differentiation and subtype identity, revealing the structural code behind neural fate decisions.

By Yuji Nakada, Madison Martinez, and Jane Johnson

tinyurl.com/3b6b325m
HH14-16 chick neural tubes were electroporated in ovo with constructs expressing MYC-tagged vectors: control empty vector (A, A′), ASCL1 (B, B′), ASCL1NR−AQ (C, C′), ASCL1E−G (D, D′), ASCL1N−A (E, E′), ASCL1R−Q (F, F′), or ASCL1E−G/NR−AQ (G, G′), and harvested 24 h later (HH23-24). A cartoon of a chick embryo and a transverse section of the neural tube is shown in the top middle, with the boxed region representing that imaged in A-G’ (+ is the electroporated side). (A-G′) Immunofluorescence with anti-MYC antibody indicating transgene expression in the electroporated cells (red). BrdU incorporation was used to detect proliferating cells (A-G, green), and RBFOX3 identifies differentiating neurons (A′-G′, green). (H–I) The percentage of electroporated cells (red) co-expressing BrdU (H) and RBFOX3 (I) is shown. ASCL1 induces cells to move laterally out of the ventricular zone, express the neuronal marker RBFOX3, and exit the cell cycle. Black asterisks indicate those cases significantly different from wild-type ASCL1 overexpression. Red asterisks highlight the mutants that decrease co-expression with RBFOX3 relative to control (I). Each data point represents a biological replicate, and the error bars are SEM around the mean, unpaired t-test, ∗∗p 0.001, ∗p 0.01, ns = not significant.
November 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
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Shroom3 facilitates optic fissure closure via tissue alignment and reestablishment of apical-basal polarity during epithelial fusion

by Jessica Herstine, Jordyn Mensh, Timothy Plageman Jr. et al
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Shroom3 is required within the neural retina during optic fissure closure
November 17, 2025 at 2:24 PM
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Multidisciplinary educational approach to reproductive technology links developmental biology, ethics, and law to prepare biologists for real-world controversies

By J Azzi, Z Wehbi, P Hussein Kobeissy, R Kerek
tinyurl.com/2xvm64ue

#SpecialIssue in Teaching #DevBio for Social Change
Diagram centre around central text "Teaching Developmental Biology in a Social Context". Scientific background is in red, ethical considerations in green, societal consideration in blue. From the top right quadrant, clockwise: Red: Drawing of an embryo, DNA molecule, microscope, and book; "Fetal viability". Red: Diagram of early development from fertilisation to early embryo; "Modern and traditional developmental stages". Blue: "Legal stance", "Cultural differences", Religion; drawing of the scales of justice, a world map, and the symbols of three Abrahamic religions. Red: "Assisted reproductive technology: in vitro fertilisation, cryopreservation, pre-implantation genetic testing, gene therapy"; diagram of a uterus and egg during IVF. Green: "Ethics: Deontological, utilitarian". Green: "Inequalities within and among countries; parental decision making; health care services; human rights; morals".
November 12, 2025 at 1:51 PM
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Fritz Müller’s "Für Darwin" (1864) bridged evolution and development, anticipating evo-devo and warning to the dangers of scientific dogma

By Scott Gilbert and Beatrice Steinert
tinyurl.com/3sccvcr5

#SpecialIssue on Research that transformed #DevBio
Yellowed and aged book cover: "Für Darwin Von Fritz Müller / Mit 67 Figuren in Holzschnitt / Leipzig, Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann 1864" Source: Wellcome Collection.
November 10, 2025 at 12:35 PM
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Developmental life history transitions can be shaped by structural inequities: Insights from the sociology of race

by Sarah McMenamin, Latrica Best

sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Ways in which social structures can impact human life history.
November 7, 2025 at 10:25 PM