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Developmental Biology
@devbiol.bsky.social
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Official Journal of the Society for Developmental Biology

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/developmental-biology
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Conserved genes play a role in facial soft tissue morphogenesis in humans and cichlids.

By Ehsan Pashay Ahi, Christian Sturmbauer, R. Craig Albertson, Pooja Singh

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2025.10.014
Examples of cichlid fish models for studying the heritable morphologies of human face. (A) Heritability map of human face. Red and blue areas indicate high and low levels of heritability, respectively (www.heritabilitymaps.info). White ovals were added arbitrarily to indicate specific regions of the forehead, upper lip, and nose that are reported to be highly heritable in humans. (B) African cichlids as models to study facial areas with high of levels of heritability in human (e.g. forehead, nose and upper lip). (C) Examples of predicted co-expression of facial morphogenic genes in human soft tissues (www.gtexportal.org) with potentially conserved role in cichlids.
September 22, 2026 at 12:23 PM
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Thyroid-hormone-induced metamorphosis has been deregulation in the evolution of obligately paedomorphic salamanders

By Ronald Bonett, Samantha Trame

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.009
Head images of the obligately larval-form paedomorphic Three-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma tridactylum) above and Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) below. Note the loss of external gills but maintenance of a gill slit on A. tridactylum, which is an example of partial metamorphosis. Photos by S. D. Trame and R. M. Bonett respectively.
September 21, 2026 at 11:56 AM
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Overexpression of potassium channel Kcna5 alters skeletal patterning in the zebrafish regenerating fin, delaying joint formation and causing longer segments.

By Alexander Seaver, Xinxhao Li, Kathryn Iovine

tinyurl.com/ut5wyx2v
Effects of exogenous Xl-kcna5 overexpression on segment length requires Cx43 function. A) Overview of experimental design. At day 0, fins from non-transgenic and transgenic siblings were amputated at the 50 % level and were systemically heat shocked at 37 °C for 1 h at 3 dpa. At 7 dpa/4 dpt, fins were stained with calcein prior to measurements of regenerate length and segment length. B) Fins were measured from amputation plane to distal tip of regenerate (white arrows) on the third-most dorsal fin ray at 7 dpa/4 dpt. C) Segment length was measured as the distance between the first and second joints distal of the amputation plane on the third-most dorsal fin ray (white arrows). Amputation planes are denoted by the white dotted line.
September 18, 2026 at 12:46 PM
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The oocytes of basal dermapterans (earwigs) lack the posterior pole lysosomal compartment

By Szczepan Bilinski, Magda Sochaczewska, Paula Irles, Stanislaw Miodonski, Andres Sarrazin, Waclaw Tworzydlo

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.002
Distribution of lysosome-like bodies in the oocytes of basal and derived dermapterans. In basal dermapterans, lysosome-like bodies remain dispersed throughout oogenesis, whereas in eudermapterans they accumulate at the posterior pole of the oocyte to form the posterior pole lysosomal compartment (PPLC). Families analyzed in the present study are highlighted in red (Pygidicranidae: Gonolabina spectabilis; Anisolabididae: Euborellia annulipes). The family analyzed in the parallel study (Sochaczewska et al., 2026; this issue) is highlighted in blue (Forficulidae: Apterygida media and Forficula auricularia).
September 17, 2026 at 7:09 AM
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Today!

September 16th 2026 EST: 12:00–1:00 PM

New season of DevBioConnect Author Seminar begins on

Dr. David Paulding

On Cranial Neural Crest
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dr. Neha Ahuja

On Renal Pericyte
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September 16, 2026 at 12:34 PM
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Mouse variants in Taf1c - a crucial component of the RNA polymerase I pre-initiation complex - result in reduced survival to birth

By Jennifer Watts, Logan Willeke, Rolf Stottmann

tinyurl.com/yr7bne74
TAF1C(S428A/R202Q) variants in human patients cause severe Tessier Cleft and skeletal defects. These are CRISPRed into mouse models, but show no craniofacial abnormalities in mouse model that survive to weaning. Homozygotes for the Taf1c deletion die in utero before face formations. Heterozygotes for either variant have no craniofacial anormalities post birth, but show reduced survival priori to weaning.
September 15, 2026 at 8:06 AM
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Branch extension and intracellular lumen formation are spatio-temporally coupled throughout Drosophila larval stages, and nascent tubes are initially fluid-filled

By Tanner Simpson, Jodi Schottenfeld-Roames

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.010
Terminal cells grow but do not form new branches or nascent fluid-filled tubes during the final larval instar. (E) Cartoon model of the entire late L3 terminal cell (gray) shown in F-H. The boxed regions in magenta are magnified in F-H’. (F-H′) Composite images of terminal branches (membrane in magenta) located at the anterior (F-F′), central (G-G′), and posterior (H-H′) regions of the terminal cell show accumulations of Lum:GFP (green) at the distal tips of tubes (F′, G′, H′). All tubes in this cell are gas-filled to the point of this Lum:GFP (data not shown). All scale bars represent 10 μm. Scale bar in A applies to A′ and scale bar in F applies to F-H’.
September 11, 2026 at 11:40 AM
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Rbm8a deficiency causes hematopoietic defects by modulating Wnt/PCP signaling

By Agnese Kocere, Alexa Burger, et al.

tinyurl.com/2rcuyhvy
Schematic of basic hematopoietic lineage and marker relationships. AGM: aorta-gonadal-mesonephros area; ICM: intermediate cell mass; PBI: posterior blood island; CHT: caudal hematopoietic territory; VDA: ventral dorsal aorta.
September 10, 2026 at 2:30 PM
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One week away!

New season of DevBioConnect Author Seminar begins on

September 16, 2026 EST 12:00–1:00 PM

Dr. David Paulding

On Cranial Neural Crest
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dr. Neha Ahuja

On Renal Pericyte
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Register👇
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September 9, 2026 at 12:46 PM
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Drosophila eye development is compromised by dTet overexpression through altered retinal determination gene expression

By Malak Kleit, Sarah Mantash, Abdullah El-Kurdi, Jawdat Sandakly, Margret Shirinian, et al

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.006
Overexpression of dTet in eyes leads to total or partial loss of eye imaginal discs. Immunofluorescence staining for Elav, a pan-neuronal RNA-binding protein, was performed on eye imaginal discs from control, dTet-overexpressing, and dTet knockdown flies. Scale bar, 20 μm and 50 μm.
September 9, 2026 at 9:32 AM
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Unusually high prevalence of cervical ribs in an 18th-Century Hungarian town: The impact of a tuberculosis epidemic on homeotic shifts during pregnancy

By F Galis, AEA van der Geer, TJM Van Dooren, T Szeniczey, T Hajdu, K Kiss, I Pap

tinyurl.com/yc8jjkft
Congenital anomalies associated with cervical ribs. A) Spina bifida occulta, a neural tube defect that causes the neural spines not to close (indicated by arrow; Vác no. 153), B) Asymmetric 6th cervical vertebra (Vác no. 178), C) Fused 7th cervical and 1st thoracic vertebra (Vác no. 153), D) Fused 2nd and 3rd cervical vertebrae (Vác no. 153), E) Fused 1st and 2nd thoracic vertebrae (Vác no. 180), F) Sacrum with an asymmetric transitional lumbosacral vertebra (indicated by the arrow). This is due to lumbarization of the 1st sacral vertebra on the right (i.e. the right part of the vertebra has a more lumbar shape, with the transverse process not fused laterally to the ilium and not fused caudally to the adjacent sacral vertebra; Vác no. 260), G) Part of a vertebral column showing symmetric homeotic transformations and asymmetry in the length of lumbar transverse processes. The most caudal lumbar vertebra (indicated by the vertical arrow) has been sacralized on the left (i.e. it has a more sacral shape and is fused to the sacrum) and the twelfth thoracic vertebra (indicated by the horizontal arrow) has been lumbarized on the left (on the left a lumbar transverse process and on the right a rib articulation). There is a strong asymmetry in the length of the transverse processes of the first and fourth lumbar vertebrae (Vác no. 195), H) Sternum with asymmetrical left and right first ribs (Vác no. 153).
September 8, 2026 at 3:27 PM
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SFRP1 loss reveals mesenchymal mechanisms underlying abnormal lung maturation via Wnt and PDGF signaling

By Nooralam Rai, Tina Zelonina, Kiran Chada, Jeanine D'Armiento

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.011
Loss of SFRP1 leads to altered PDGFR⍺ and associated disrupted signaling dynamics. Representative section at P0 showing PDGFR⍺ in magenta, pancytokeratin in yellow, and nuclei in cyan (DAPI).
September 7, 2026 at 12:14 PM
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Teaching the complexities of biological sex determination with the goal of creating a more inclusive classroom and perhaps challenging key components of the oversimplified rhetoric of the gender binary

By Rebecca Delventhal

tinyurl.com/53y96td5
September 3, 2026 at 1:51 PM
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New season of DevBioConnect Author Seminar begins on

September 16th, 2026 EST: 12:00–1:00 PM

Dr. David Paulding

On Cranial Neural Crest
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dr. Neha Ahuja

On Renal Pericyte
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Register here👇
forms.gle/m14hJGbU2V8c...
September 2, 2026 at 8:19 PM
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Shared candidate genes associated with variation in egg size in cold-adapted and artificially selected Drosophila melanogaster

By Intisar Koch, Taylor Beagle, Tyler Hayes, Cecelia Miles, et al

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.015
September 1, 2026 at 1:04 PM
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Scarecrow, a homolog of mammalian Nkx2.1, regulates the temporal progression and glial differentiation of medulla neuroblasts for the optic lobe development in Drosophila melanogaster

By Cheol-Ho Yun, Kyungjun Seok, Gyunghee G. Lee, Jae H. Park, Siuk Yoo

tinyurl.com/3zz6rfnv
Expression patterns of Scro during OPC development. (B-C‴) The late L3 brains from scroΔE2-EGFP (scroEGFP) were double-stained with two consecutive tTFs, Ey and Slp2 (B-B‴) and Slp2 and D (C-C‴). EGFP signals represent scro expression. Scro begins to express in Ey+/Slp2+ NBs (arrowheads, B-B‴) and continues in Slp2+/D+ NB (arrowheads, C-C‴). Note that some Slp2+/D+ NBs do not or very weakly express Scro (arrows, C-C‴). (D-D″) scroΔE2-Gal4 (scroGal4) was crossed with a UAS-nRFP (scro > nRFP), and the larval brains were stained with anti-D. As D+ NBs age, the D expression levels gradually decrease (arrowheads, D″). Note that Scro expression is detected in the early-D stage (blue arrowhead, D′), disappears in the mid-D stage (red arrowhead, D′), and reappears in the late-D stage (yellow arrowhead, D′). (E) Diagram representing the expression domains of tTFs and Scro. Note that D and Tll temporal windows do not overlap. Scale bars, 5 μm.
August 31, 2026 at 12:54 PM
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Perturbing pH dynamics after zebrafish larval tail amputation impairs regeneration, which is rescued by GSK3 inhibitors.

By Cambria Chou-Freed, Christopher Prinz, Anush Margaryan, Julie Theriot, Daniel Wagner, Diane Barber

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.004
August 27, 2026 at 1:32 PM
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A comparative analysis of VEGF and its receptors revealed tissue-specific disruptions in angiogenic signaling and endothelial integrity in Hmox1-deficient mouse embryos

By Meenakshi Rana, Gouri Nandi, Sidhant Jain, Divya Bajaj

tinyurl.com/4dcw5aph
Immunolocalization of VEGF was altered in 16.5 dpc Hmox1-KO mouse embryos. (a–f) Representative images of VEGF immunostaining in para- and mid-sagittal sections of 16.5 dpc wWT (a and b), WT (c and d), and KO (e and f) embryos. VEGF protein was visualized using DAB substrate for enzyme-linked detection. A no-primary-antibody control is included as an inset within the wWT sections, and the areas of the organs imaged at higher magnification to reveal cellular details are marked in the whole-mount images. (g–i) The region of forebrain imaged was thalamus which is a diencephalon derivative. (j–l) Cardiac muscle cells of the muscular region of the ventricles are visible and the nuclei (N) of the same are indicated with black arrows. (m–o) The epithelial cells of bronchiole (Br) and distal lung epithelial cells (DE) are indicated by black and red arrows respectively. (p–r) Individually scattered megakaryocytes (Me) are indicated with black arrows, and the liver parenchyma is marked as P. (s–u) The tubules (T) and collecting ducts (CD) are indicated by red and yellow arrows respectively, whereas glomeruli (G) are indicated by black arrows. The cortex parenchyma is marked as P. Scale bars: a to f—2 mm; g to u—50 μm. Semi-Semi-quantitative analysis of VEGF signal intensity (bottom-left corner of the figure) in wWT, WT and KO embryos.
August 26, 2026 at 1:46 PM
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Novel functional and molecular aspects of Hox/TALE in the context of different animal model systems and regulatory pathways discussed at a March 2026 workshop

By Samir Merabet, Dorothea Schulte

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.07.007
Summary of the three main topics covered during the HOX/TALE workshop, with the different molecular aspects, experimental tools and model systems introduced by the speakers. From the top of the pyramid: HOX/TALE; Chromatin, protein stability, TF combination, RNA splicing, subnuclear localization; Spatial transcriptomics, Hi-C, ChIP-seq, Proteomics, AI, Genetics, ATAC-seq, Imaging, Bioinformatics, Single-cell; Patterning (Gastruloid, Limb bud, pharyngeal arch, embryo), Morphogenesis (muscle, nervous system, heart, facial, fat body), cell fate (HSCs, neurons, muscle)
August 24, 2026 at 1:22 PM
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The molecular mechanism underlying melatonin-mediated repair of ovarian damage in mice exposed to abnormal light cycles

By F Zhang, R Ma, Y Jin, K Wang, H He, F Wang, G Zhang

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.014
Schematic of the effects of abnormal light cycles and melatonin (MLT) supplementation on ovarian function. A reversed light/darkness (LD) to darkness/light (DL) or light/light (LL) cycles lead to ovarian dysfunction and follicle loss. Melatonin intervention in DL (MDL) and LL (MLL) cycles restores ovarian function and key pathways. Highlighted are genes Insl3, Runx2, Timp1, and pathways regulation of apoptosis, teroid biosynthesis, ovarian follicle development, and circadian rhythm.
August 20, 2026 at 1:39 PM
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The patterning and proliferation roles of Shh are partitioned on distinct exosomes: Shh-P150 drive neural tube patterning, Shh-P450 promotes proliferation

By Ankita Walvekar, Shivangi Pandey, Siddhesh Kamat, Raj Ladher, Neha Vyas

tinyurl.com/46sajrdd
Gαi inhibition, using PTX, cannot activate ventral progenitor specification by Shh-P450 pool. (A–B) Representative immunofluorescence image of neural explants treated with 4 nM Shh-P150 (A, top panel), 4 nM Shh-P450 (A, bottom panel) and treated with 100 ng/ml PTX respectively (B) for 48 h and stained for Olig2 (green, left panel and merge), Pax7 (gray, middle panel and merge), and Pan neural progenitor marker, Sox2 (red, all merge); scale bar = 50 μm. No activation of Olig2, or inhibition of Pax7, is observed in bottom panels treated with 4 nM Shh-P450 with or without PTX.
August 19, 2026 at 10:13 AM
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Mice with Fsp1-driven PDGFRβ hyperactivation develop cataracts, with rapid and complete lens opacification by 15 weeks.

By Jesse Reardon, Yixuan Ma, Heather Chandler, Gina Sizemore, et al.

tinyurl.com/2zhd9py7
Progressive cataractogenesis in mice with Fsp1-driven PDGFRβ hyperactivity. Representative lenses from Fsp1-cre;Pdgfrb+/D849V mice and age-matched controls from 9 to 15 weeks of age were imaged over a transmission electron grid and evaluated for cataract.
August 17, 2026 at 7:49 AM
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Developmental analysis of the cone photoreceptor-less little skate retina reveals distinct Onecut1 isoforms

By Chetan Rangachar, Denice Moran, Mark Emerson

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.010
P0 mouse retinas electroporated ex vivo with ThrbCRM1:GFP, pCAG::Bgal, and a pCAG construct driving expression of the Onecut1 transcript denoted at the left of each row. After 2 days, retinas were harvested and processed for confocal microscopy to visualize nuclei (DAPI in blue), GFP reporter (yellow), Bgal (magenta), and Onecut1 protein (white), which is detected in unelectroporated mouse horizontal cells in all retinas and in any electroporated cell expressing a Onecut1 protein recognized by the antibody. Visualized channels are shown above each row. C) pCAG:mouse Onecut1. (D) pCAG::LSOC1X1. (E) pCAG::LSOC1X2. Scale bars are all 50 μm. (F) AlphaFold3 models predicting the binding properties of one variable Onecut1 molecule (mouse, skate canonical, or skate spacer isoform), two molecules of Otx2, and the ThrbCRM1 double helix. All DNA-binding domains, the Onecut1 linker, spacer, and ThrbCRM1 are shown. Onecut1 CUT (blue), HD (red), spacer element (yellow), and canonical linker (green) are labeled. Otx2 HD is labeled in orange.
August 6, 2026 at 8:30 AM
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Genetic knockout suggests Isl1 enhancer redundancy in mouse hindlimb development

By Seth Olson, Yasuhiko Kawakami, et al.

tinyurl.com/2jjje2sn
Isl1 HLPE contributes to ISL1 expression in the branchial arch ectoderm (A) Representative images of the wild-type (A-A‴) and Isl1 HLPE−/− (B-B‴) E9.5 branchial arch stained with DAPI (A, B), anti-TRP63 antibody (A′, B′), and anti-ISL1 antibody (A″, B″). Panels A‴ and B‴ show merged images. The white dotted line in A‴ and B‴ represents the region of interest where fluorescent intensity was analyzed. Scale bar: 100 μm. Single-color images are shown in grayscale.
August 4, 2026 at 2:01 PM
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The Drosophila ovarian terminal filament imports lipophilic molecules that support cyst and follicle development within the ovariole

By Bhawana Maurya, Allan Spradling

doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2026.06.013
Kinetics of Sec6 and LpR2 dependent lipid transfer from terminal filament to the germarium. LpR2_KD knockdown (bab1-GAL4,tub-GAL80ts > LpR2-RNAi) in terminal filament and cap cells on adult day1 and analyzed on day3, leads to a reduction in lipid droplet number within the germarium, a smaller region 1 and 2a with less-branched fusomes (dashed outline), and defects in cyst development.
August 3, 2026 at 8:37 AM