Chick optic fissure closure is a powerful new model system for epithelial fusion and has revealed Netrin-1 as a conserved and essential mediator of tissue fusion in multiple contexts.
The lens-averted domains of the optic vesicle are reservoirs of neuroretinal cells that flow into the developing optic cup in a process that is critically influenced by BMP signaling.
Phenotypic evolution can originate from variations in very precocious developmental events, starting even before fecundation, during the fabrication of the egg in the mother's gonad.
A new eye-specific Dcc mutant combined with an improved clearing protocol for the eye and brain (EyeDISCO) reveals the requirement of the receptor Dcc for retinal development and maintenance.
Primary cilia of neural crest-derived cells mediate Indian hedgehog-induced signal transduction in the periocular mesenchyme and are required for normal anterior segment development.
Hantaan virus nucleocapsid cryo-EM structure determined at 3.3 Å resolution reveals how nucleoproteins assemble into a metastable helix containing a continuous RNA-binding groove compatible with genome encapsidation and compaction.
Neural crest cells differentiated from patient-derived cells with mutations in the chromatin remodeler CHD7 show defective delamination, migration and motility in vitro, and defective migration in chick embryos.
Mutations in CHD7, which cause CHARGE syndrome, cause a reduction in FGF8 signalling and subsequent abnormalities in the cerebellar vermis in both mice and humans.