From left to right: co-first authors, Yanel Volonté, Fabiana Herédia and Rebeca Zanini, and co-corresponding authors, Andres Garelli and Alisson M. Gontijo.
To learn more about this work and the people behind it, we talked to Yanel Volonté, Fabiana Heredia, Rebeca Zanini, Andres Garelli and Alisson M. Gontijo. doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Read the Research Article ‘Dilp8 relaxin signaling from ovarian follicle cells to Lgr3-positive neurons promotes spontaneous ovulation and oocyte quality in Drosophila’ here:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Model for the role of the Dilp8-Lgr3 signaling pathway in virgin reproductive physiology control. Dilp8 peptide (green circles) continuously secreted from fully mature Dilp8+ follicles (green follicles), acts (black arrows) on two populations of Lgr3-expressing neurons (brown and light-brown neurons) that innervate the lateral oviduct and uterus (R18A01), and the ovary and the lateral and common oviducts (R19B09). Activities from these neurons (thin, brown and light-brown curved arrows) facilitate ovulation and egg transit through the reproductive tract (large blue arrow) and inhibit oogenesis progression (magenta arrow) in virgin females, contributing to keeping the number of fully mature follicles below two per ovariole in the ovaries. In this model, the soma of both R18A01 and R19B09 neurons reside in the abdominal ganglion of the ventral nerve cord (VNC), but this remains to be fully confirmed (black question mark). It is possible that the lateral oviduct-innervating R18A01 neurons are sensory neurons (brown neuron near brown question marks). Collectively, these activities promote egg quality.
Dilp8/Lgr3 sets the beat of spontaneous #Drosophila ovulation
This Research Highlight showcases work by Alisson Gontijo, Andres Garelli and colleagues
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Check out our conference attendance calendar to connect with our Editors at other upcoming meetings and conferences
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We are pleased to sponsor the joint meeting on Development & Regeneration, starting this afternoon.
Visit the @biologists.bsky.social's exhibit to pick up some Development at a glance posters and postcards from @the-node.bsky.social.
Also see our Executive Editor's (@amjeve.uk) talk on Thursday.
First and corresponding author Beth M. Harvey (left), and corresponding author Michael Granato (right)
To learn more about this work and the people behind it, we talked to first author Beth Harvey and corresponding author Michael Granato, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, @upenncgh.bsky.social , USA. doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Read the Research Article 'A glial cell-derived pathway directs regenerating optic nerve axons toward the optic chiasm' here:
doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Lh3 is required for growth across the midline during regeneration. (A) Timeline of a transection experiment with zebrafish lh3 larvae (hpf, hours post-fertilization; dpf, days post-fertilization; hpt, hours post-transection). (B-E) Before injury, RGC axons labeled using Tg(isl2b:GFP) in siblings (B,C) and conditional lh3 mutants (D,E) cross the midline and innervate contralateral tecta. (F-H) In lh3 siblings at 72 hpt, RGC axons grow across the midline and re-innervate contralateral optic tecta, schematized in H. (I-K) In contrast, RGC axons in lh3 mutants turn away from the midline, project aberrantly (magenta arrowheads) and do not reinnervate contralateral optic tecta, schematized in K. Dashed lines indicate the outline of the eyes. Scale bars: 50 µm. Representative images of chiasms and tecta for each timepoint are of the same fixed larva, whereas across timepoints are different larvae.
Lh3 lights the way for optic nerve regeneration in #zebrafish
This Research Highlight showcases work by Beth Harvey, Michael Granato and colleagues (@upenncgh.bsky.social) .
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Ready for #SYStem2026 next week?
Our Reviews Editor @saanjbati.bsky.social is also attending the whole meeting and will be available at the ‘Meet the editor’ session on 12 March 2026 during the coffee breaks to talk about @dev-journal.bsky.social and @the-node.bsky.social
@imbavienna.bsky.social
Highlighting preprint stories from within the preLights community 📽️
Here, Teodora narrates her preprint showing that functional decline in the ageing retinal epithelium results from a change in the mechanical balance of the tissue due to natural cell loss!
#Short ⬇️
www.youtube.com/shorts/CWYRX...
Check out our conference attendance calendar to connect with our Editors at other upcoming meetings and conferences
journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/co...
Our Executive Editor @amjeve.uk will be speaking at the Development & Regeneration joint international meeting of the GfE, DSDB and @sebioldev.bsky.social in Germany next week.
Visit The Company of Biologists' booth to speak to him about Development, @the-node.bsky.social & @biologists.bsky.social
excited that this work is on the cover!
See the full issue here: journals.biologists.com/dev/issue/15...
Also in Issue 4:
• 6 Research Highlights on cell division, stomach organoids, reflex circuits, teeth development, metabolism and lymphatic cells
• 5 ‘People behind the papers’ interviews
• A ‘Transitions in development’ interview
• Perspective on gene regulation
• Primer on plant PCD
On the cover: Dual HCR-FISH labelling of neural crest genes snai2 and foxd3 in Xenopus laevis embryos in various pseudocolour combinations at Nieuwkoop and Faber stages 13, 15, 17 and 20, revealing expression heterogeneity along the anterior-posterior axis. From left to right: snai2 - cyan, green, green, yellow; foxd3 - magenta, magenta, yellow, magenta.
Issue 4 is complete!
On the cover: Neural crest genes in X. laevis embryos (NF stages: 13, 15, 17 and 20). Left to right: snai2 - cyan, green, green, yellow; foxd3 - magenta, magenta, yellow, magenta.
See the Research Article by Andrew Montequin and Carole LaBonne: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Read the Research Article ‘Loss of meningeal lymphatic endothelial cells results in formation of a newly forming vascular network with scavenging function’ here: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Scavenging for drains in the brain: depleted lymphatic cells replaced by new vasculature
This Research Highlight showcases work from Stefan Schulte-Merker and colleagues ( @uni-muenster.de ):
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Really interesting article about fracture in developing tissues. For a deep dive into examples across species, you can also check out @rashmi-priya.bsky.social and @torres-sanchez.bsky.social's recent Review in Development @dev-journal.bsky.social
⬇️
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Very happy about this nice piece of work by @eugeniapitsili.bsky.social on developmentally controlled cell death in plants @dev-journal.bsky.social !
Special thanks also to @ingridtsang.bsky.social for a terrific editorial job bringing out the best of this manuscript!!
doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Overview of dPCD processes during plant life cycle. Instances of dPCD (developmental programmed cell death; skull and crossbones) occurring during vegetative (A-D) and reproductive (F,E) plant development, and senescence (G). (A) In vegetative tissues, dPCD occurs during xylem differentiation, which progresses sequentially through stages of (i) cell specification, (ii) secondary cell wall deposition and lignification, and (iii) cell death and protoplast clearance. (B) Root cap turnover in Arabidopsis. The lateral root cap (LRC) and columella are indicated in purple and brown, respectively. (C) Leaf perforation in some taxa. (D) Lysigenous aerenchyma formation. (E) dPCD is involved in reproductive development in the fully grown plant. During sexual reproduction (i), dPCD occurs in nurturing layers such as the anther, tapetum and ovule nucellus, during anthesis, during functional megaspore (FM) selection and in antipodal cells of some species. During pollination and fertilization (ii), it occurs as part of the self-incompatibility response in some taxa, in the transmitting tract, and in the pollen tube and synergid cells to facilitate fertilization. (F) During seed development, dPCD occurs: (i) in the suspensor; (ii) in the embryo-surrounding endosperm, or the endosperm-adjacent-to-scutellum (EAS) region; and (iii) during seed coat formation and in the aleurone layer during germination. DAP, days after pollination. (G) dPCD is the terminal phase of senescence. Created in BioRender. Pitsili, E. (2026) https://BioRender.com/uo9f4fn. Republished with permission.
In this Primer, @eugeniapitsili.bsky.social and @moritznowack.bsky.social discuss the cellular and molecular frameworks governing the initiation and execution of programmed cell death in plants: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
New from @dev-journal.bsky.social: we're launching a new initiative and hiring Preprint Editors to help navigate the growing world of preprints in developmental & stem cell biology
Join our community & shape the future of research
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Apply to become a Preprint Editor Development
We are inviting experienced researchers to apply to become Preprint Editors, a new type of editorial role responsible for handling our 'In preprints' articles and forging links with preprint literature. #prepints
Learn more and apply before 30 March 2026:
journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/pr...
Sonia Dufour (left) and Julia Morales (right) in the Roscoff Marine Station.
To learn more about how this paper developed and the people behind it, we talked to the first author, Sonia Dufour, and the corresponding author, Julia Morales, Research Scientist and Head of the Translation, Cell Cycle and Development (TCCD) team at @cnrs.fr: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Read the Research Article ‘The activation of the mTOR pathway supports lysosome biogenesis in the sea urchin embryo’ here: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Figure 2 of the article: Early development is accompanied by the emergence of novel acidic vesicles and the acidification of the embryo yolk platelets. Confocal optical sections corresponding to live embryos stained with Lysosensor (LyS; red in merge, inverted greyscale in first and third rows) and Nile red (NR; cyan in merge, inverted greyscale in last row). Developmental stages are indicated in minutes post-fertilisation (PF). A dense array of acidic vesicles occupies the egg's cytoplasm in developing embryos, but not in unfertilised eggs. At high magnification, these vesicles (circles) can be seen mingling with the yolk platelets. After the third cleavage (160 min PF), the Lysosensor signal is also detected at variable levels in the yolk platelets (arrows). These observations have been replicated in three independent experiments.
A metabolic paradox: mTor promotes lysosome biogenesis in sea urchin embryos
This Research Highlight showcases work from Sonia Dufour, Julia Morales and colleagues (@cnrs.fr): journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Soumyashree Das
Transitions in development – an interview with Soumyashree Das
We caught up with Soumyashree from @ncbsbangalore.bsky.social to talk about her research on vascular development and regeneration, and her experience establishing a new lab under pandemic conditions: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
Attendees of The Company of Biologists’ Workshop, ‘Building to Understand: The Constructionist Approach to Studying Gene Regulation’ which was held on 15-18 July 2024 at Buxted Park, UK.
How to build the regulatory genome: a constructionist guide to the cis-regulatory code
@carldeboer.bsky.social and colleagues summarise some of the 2024 @biologists.bsky.social Workshop's discussions on constructionist approaches in genome regulation: doi.org/10.1242/dev....
There's still time to submit your research manuscript to Development's special issue on the extracellular environment.
Deadline: 1 March 2026.
Browse the articles that have already been published here: journals.biologists.com/dev/issue/15...
First author Yuqing Zhang (left), and co-corresponding authors Jiang Tao (middle) and Zhifang Xie (right)
We also spoke to first author, Yuqing Zhang, and co-corresponding authors, Jiang Tao (Professor, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, China), Weiping Zhang (Professor, Naval Medical University at Shanghai, China) and Zhifang Xie (Principal Investigator, Xinhua Hospital, China): doi.org/10.1242/dev....
