The mitotic spindle is a microtubule-based assembly that separates the chromosomes during cell division. As the spindle is basically a mechanical micro machine, the understanding of its functioning is constantly motivating the development of experimental approaches based on mechanical perturbations, which are complementary to and work together with the classical genetics and biochemistry methods. Recent

The most dangerous aspect of cancer lies in metastatic progression. Tumor cells will successfully form life-threatening metastases when they undergo sequential steps along a journey from the primary tumor to distant organs. From a biomechanics standpoint, growth, invasion, intravasation, circulation, arrest/adhesion, and extravasation of tumor cells demand particular cell-mechanical properties in order

Acidic pH levels are often observed in growing tumors, with profound effects on cancer cells and surrounding microenvironment. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Funato et al. (2020) show that expression of oncogenic phosphatase of regenerating liver 3 (PRL3) shifts cellular preference for environmental pH, leading to acid addiction.

The developing heart begins as a seemingly straight tube, but it soon undergoes rightward looping. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Desgrange et al. report how left-right asymmetric Nodal signaling regulates heart looping.

Oligogenic inheritance makes the etiology of developmental diseases challenging to determine. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Kong et al., 2020 identify members of a membrane-tethered ubiquitin complex that attenuates Hedgehog signaling strength and genetically interact to regulate digit number, body patterning, and cardiac development.

Lineage tracing and fate mapping, overlapping yet distinct disciplines to follow cells and their progeny, have evolved rapidly over the last century. Lineage tracing aims to identify all progeny arising from an individual cell, placing them within a lineage hierarchy. The recent emergence of genomic technologies, such as single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, has fostered sophisticated new methods

In this issue of Developmental Cell, Yang et al. (2020) report that both nutrient- and growth factor-dependent signaling impinge upon the RAG GTPases which in turn control TSC residency time on the lysosome membrane and ultimately mTORC1 activity.

A study in this issue of Developmental Cell (Petrov et al., 2020) provides evidence that eukaryotic RND proteins function as cholesterol transport systems in the Hedgehog signaling pathway, driven by either sodium or potassium gradients.

How tissue remodelling is coordinated during morphogenesis is still an open question. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Xiong et al. (2020) reveals the regulation of coordinated tissue elongation during avian embryonic development by inter-tissue mechanical interactions acting as a compression engine.

Quiescence is a state of reversible proliferative arrest in which cells are not actively dividing and yet retain the capacity to reenter the cell cycle upon receiving an appropriate stimulus. Quiescent cells are remarkably diverse—they reside in different locations throughout the body, serve distinct roles, and are activated by a variety of signals. Despite this diversity, all quiescent cells must

The generation of adult hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) will provide therapeutic benefits but is currently elusive. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Frame et al. reveal that the inflammasome has a key role in HSPCs specification during endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition (EHT).

Intercellular communication is vital to tumor progression. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Bertolini et al. (2020) describe how small extracellular vesicles released from hypoxic mammary tumor cells facilitate intercellular communication, leading to alterations in mitochondrial dynamics and acquisition of invasive phenotypes in normal epithelial cells.

MTORC1 activity is critical for tissue regeneration in multiple organs and contexts. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Miao et al. describe upstream regulators of mTORC1 activity which promote paligenosis, a process where mature cells de-differentiate to acquire stem cell activity in the face of injury.

Cilia are important cell structures found on nearly all cells. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Mennella and colleagues investigate the molecular architecture of basal foot proteins in cells with primary or motile cilia and discover a hybrid cilium with a unique assembly that regulates polarity in multiciliated cells.

How organisms sense temperature is a long-standing question. However, the identification of molecular thermosensors has been limited. Now, in a recent issue of Nature, Jung et al. demonstrate that phase separation of ELF3, a component of the circadian clock, acts as a thermosensor.

During brain development, the daughter cells of neural stem cells have to make a choice — either to become new stem cells or to differentiate into neurons. In a recent issue of Science, Iwata et al. (2020) show that these fate decisions can be determined after mitosis by mitochondrial remodeling.

Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNECs) are rare airway epithelial cells that also uniquely harbor neuronal and endocrine characteristics. In vitro data indicate that these cells respond to chemical or mechanical stimuli by releasing neuropeptides and neurotransmitters, implicating them as airway sensors. Emerging in vivo data corroborate this role and demonstrate that PNECs are important for lung response

Advances in molecular biology continue to help us uncover how information written into genes provides a blueprint for the initiation and orchestration of programs and processes that control cell division, cell-type specification, cell migration, cellular differentiation, and cell death. Clearly, molecular elements into which information is written must “talk to one another” and “work with each other”

The animal germline is an immortal cell lineage that gives rise to eggs and/or sperm each generation. Fusion of an egg and sperm, or fertilization, sets off a cascade of developmental events capable of producing an array of different cell types and body plans. How germ cells develop, function, and eventually give rise to entirely new organisms is an important question in biology. A growing body of

Protein aggregation is the main hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. Many proteins found in pathological inclusions are known to undergo liquid-liquid phase separation, a reversible process of molecular self-assembly. Emerging evidence supports the hypothesis that aberrant phase separation behavior may serve as a trigger of protein aggregation in neurodegeneration, and efforts to understand and

The plant cell internal environment is a dynamic, intricate landscape composed of many intracellular compartments. Cells organize some cellular components through formation of biomolecular condensates—non-stoichiometric assemblies of protein and/or nucleic acids. In many cases, phase separation appears to either underly or contribute to the formation of biomolecular condensates. Many canonical membraneless

Activating the right gene at the right time and place is essential for development. Emerging evidence suggests that this process is regulated by the mesoscale compartmentalization of the gene-control machinery, RNA polymerase II and its cofactors, within biomolecular condensates. Coupling gene activity to the reversible and dynamic process of condensate formation is proposed to enable the robust and

In the last decade, liquid-liquid phase separation has emerged as a fundamental principle in the organization of crowded cellular environments into functionally distinct membraneless compartments. It is now established that biomolecules can condense into various physical phases, traditionally defined for simple polymer systems, and more recently elucidated by techniques employed in life sciences. We

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important regulators of development. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Wilson et al. utilize pluripotent stem cell models to demonstrate that a primate lncRNA, BANCR, is primarily expressed in fetal cardiomyocytes and promotes cell migration.

The ability to visualize transcription in real time in living organisms has enabled a new generation of gene expression studies in development. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Hoppe et al. show that the bone morphogenetic protein gradient is decoded through frequency modulation encoded by enhancers.

How does auxin induce somatic embryogenesis? In this issue of Developmental Cell, Wang et al. uncover a regulatory role for auxin in the dynamics of chromatin accessibility and gene expression, which is critical for the establishment of developmental time-specific transcriptional regulatory networks orchestrating somatic-to-embryonic cell reprogramming and somatic embryo development.

Cellular distribution of biomolecules is important for regulating their function. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Chouaib et al., 2020 employ genetically tagged human cell lines to investigate the subcellular distribution of specific mRNAs and their encoded proteins, revealing several instances of localized translation with distinctive regulatory implications.