Article
Chemistry, Physical
Cristian L. Marchant, Abdul N. Malmi-Kakkada, Jaime A. Espina, Elias H. Barriga
Summary: Collective cell migration in embryonic tissues is triggered by a mechanosensitive pathway involving Piezo1-mediated microtubule deacetylation, causing cell softening.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Adam Shellard, Roberto Mayor
Summary: The neural crest uses durotaxis to follow stiffness gradients in adjacent placodal tissue, contributing to efficient collective cell migration. Durotaxis synergizes with chemotaxis to polarize actomyosin machinery of the cell group, promoting efficient directional cell migration in vivo.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Michelle Dookwah, Shannon Wagner, Mayumi Ishihara, Seok-Ho Yu, Heidi Ulrichs, Michael Kulik, Nadja Zeltner, Stephen Dalton, Kevin Strauss, Kazuhiro Aoki, Richard Steet, Michael Tiemeyer
Summary: GM3 Synthase Deficiency (GM3SD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by pathogenic variants in the ST3GAL5 gene. Researchers investigated the impact of GM3 loss on glycolipid glycosylation, cell signaling, and apoptosis in GM3SD patient cells reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and differentiated to neural crest cells (NCCs). They found aberrant glycolipid profiles, altered cell surface proteome, and increased apoptosis in GM3SD cells, highlighting the importance of understanding the underlying mechanisms.
HUMAN MOLECULAR GENETICS
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Nikita Sivakumar, Helen Warner, Shayn M. Peirce, Matthew J. Lazzara
Summary: Physiological and pathological processes rely on cell-cell signaling and adhesion processes for multicell pattern formation. Computational models can predict how different combinations of signaling and adhesion parameters drive the emergence of unique patterns. Understanding the rules of cellular self-assembly is essential for tissue engineering and therapeutic applications. The developed model provides insights into the factors influencing pattern formation and aids in the design of synthetic cell signaling circuits for specific multicell patterns.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Cell Biology
Jonas Hartmann, Roberto Mayor
Summary: Over the past two decades, molecular cell biology has evolved from an analytic science to a synthetic science by understanding the structure and function of biomolecules and molecular mechanisms. Similarly, in synthetic developmental biology, a deep understanding of developmental principles is crucial for achieving success at the scale of tissues and organs. This article reviews central concepts and recent progress in tissue patterning, morphogenesis, and collective cell migration, emphasizing the significance of (guided) self-organization and theoretical advancements in synthesis.
SEMINARS IN CELL & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Alexander J. Tarashansky, Jacob M. Musser, Margarita Khariton, Pengyang Li, Detlev Arendt, Stephen R. Quake, Bo Wang
Summary: SAMap is a new method that can map cell atlas manifolds across species within phyla, identifying homologous cell types with shared expression programs, even in complex examples where homologous tissues emerge from distinct germ layers.
Article
Biology
Dina Rekler, Chaya Kalcheim
Summary: This study reveals that retinoic acid synthesized in the neural tube regulates the end of neural crest development by inhibiting BMP signaling. The activity of neural crest-specific genes also inhibits retinoic acid synthesis in the roof plate. There is a mutual repressive interaction between neural crest and roof plate traits, compromising the cellular and molecular architecture of the roof plate.
Article
Cell Biology
Ankit Pandey, Helene Cousin, Brett Horr, Dominique Alfandari
Summary: This study discovered that the non-proteolytic ADAM11 maintains the naive cell state through promoting BMP4 signaling and repressing Wnt signaling. Loss of ADAM11 leads to increased Wnt signaling, increased cell proliferation, and early epithelial to mesenchymal transition.
FRONTIERS IN CELL AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
De-Li Shi
Summary: Gastrulation and neurulation are crucial morphogenetic processes involving cellular and molecular mechanisms to shape the embryonic body plan. Planar cell polarity proteins play a significant role in regulating these processes and their mutation can lead to various developmental defects and congenital diseases.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Cell Biology
Mir Hilal Ahmad, Balaram Ghosh, Moshahid Alam Rizvi, Mansoor Ali, Loveleena Kaur, Amal Chandra Mondal
Summary: Neuroblastoma is a common heterogeneous extracranial cancer in infancy that is associated with aberrant activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. The Wnt signaling pathway regulates the development and differentiation of neural crest cells and affects the proliferation and metastasis of neuroblastoma. Inhibiting the Wnt signaling pathway can induce apoptosis and prevent the occurrence of neuroblastoma.
JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Patrick McMillen, Sara Walker, Michael Levin
Summary: There is a growing recognition of the importance of collective information processing by cells in the fields of cell biology and developmental biology. To quantitatively understand these processes at the systems level, a guide for applying established information theory metrics to biological datasets is presented. A computational tool called CAIM is introduced for the simple and rigorous application of these metrics to time series datasets. CAIM is used to study calcium and cytoskeletal actin information flow patterns between Xenopus laevis embryonic animal cap stem cells.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Akiko Suzuki, Kenichi Ogata, Junichi Iwata
Summary: Research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of mammalian salivary gland development, with recent studies elucidating the identity of stem cells and the process of cell fate decisions in SMGs, contributing to a deeper understanding of organ development.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Arun Devotta, Hugo Juraver-Geslin, Casey Griffin, Jean-Pierre Saint-Jeannet, Carole LaBonne
Summary: In this study, we described a novel role for natriuretic peptide signaling in the formation of neural crest and cranial placode progenitors. We showed that natriuretic peptide receptor 3 (Npr3) plays a pivotal role by regulating two developmental programs through its dual function as clearance and signaling receptor.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Harish N. Vasudevan, Calixto-Hope G. Lucas, Javier E. Villanueva-Meyer, Philip Theodosopoulos, David R. Raleigh
Summary: This review highlights the development of Schwann cells from embryonic neural crest cells to mature Schwann cells, focusing on genetic drivers and signaling mechanisms that regulate proliferation and differentiation decisions. The article also discusses potential novel therapeutic strategies for cancers derived from Schwann cell lineages, based on knowledge of Schwann cell development events and mouse models of related tumors.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Donghao Tian, Wenyao Xu, Weikang Pan, Baijun Zheng, Weili Yang, Wanying Jia, Yong Liu, Malgorzata A. Garstka, Ya Gao, Hui Yu
Summary: Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can improve cell therapy for hypoganglionosis by enhancing short-chain fatty acid metabolism-induced MEK1/2 signaling.