NODAL/Activin-induced SMAD2 binding directly drives remodeling of both open and closed chromatin and does not directly correlate with temporal patterns of gene expression upon prolonged signaling.

Post-implantation epiblast maturation and patterning of anterior-posterior axis in mouse embryonic development are mediated by pluripotency transcription factor Zfp281 through transcriptional and epigenetic control of Nodal signaling.

The Apelin receptor acts as a rheostat to ensure that the proper levels of Nodal signaling are achieved for proper cell fate specification at the onset of gastrulation, in particular for cardiac progenitor development.

Ligand capture by cell surface receptor complexes sets the shape of the Nodal signaling pattern in zebrafish.

Regulation of conserved Nodal factors by a maternal protein ensures that Nodal signaling is repressed until the appropriate time in embryonic development.

Highly reproducible and efficient human primordial germ cell differentiation was achieved through geometric confinement, which enabled quantitative dissection of the cell signaling driving this differentiation, revealing a major role of Wnt signaling is indirect by inducing Nodal signaling.

A combination of window-of-sensitivity, genetic, and in vitro findings illuminate mechanisms of gene–environment interaction in a multifactorial model of a common birth defect.

A subset of the zebrafish Nodal receptor complex is regulated by positive feedback and controls the diffusion and distribution of Nodal signals during germ layer formation.

Nodal signaling regulates gastrulation cell behaviors largely in parallel with planar cell polarity signaling and is sufficient for ex vivo extension of embryonic explants.

Genetic analyses demonstrate that Gdf3/Vg1 is a maternal effect gene required for robust Nodal signaling during different phases of embryogenesis including germ-layer formation, Kupffer's vesicle morphogenesis, and left-right patterning.