Developmental biology articles from across Nature Portfolio

A large consortium of researchers has mapped how brain cells establish diverse identities throughout neurodevelopment and across species.

Reproductive aging involves a decline in oocyte chromosome cohesion and various other developmental conditions that are difficult to study in isolation. We developed a mouse system that enables rapid manipulation of chromosome cohesion, which revealed that centromere dysfunction is a key driver of age-related chromosomal errors in mammalian eggs.

Spatial transcriptomics enables the characterization of diverse cell types with increasing resolution while retaining the spatial context of complex tissues. A study combines single-cell and spatial ‘spot’-based transcriptome measurements to identify cell states in the developing human heart and define spatial relationships within cardiac niches.

Recent studies integrating multi-omics data with cell atlases across development for brains of humans and model organisms are revealing conserved and divergent patterns of brain development at the molecular and cellular levels, and linking these to complex behavioural and neuropsychiatric phenotypes.

Human embryonic stem cells are simultaneously capable of self-renewal and poised for differentiation. Here, the authors show a role for the ZNF263 transcription factor promotes primed pluripotency and facilitates differentiation into primary germ layer lineages.

Developmental programs are frequently co-opted in glioblastoma. Here, the authors show the role of transcription factors Olig1/2 in fate specification of tri-potential intermediate progenitor cells and their connection with gliomagenesis in mouse models; they also show that Olig1/2 deletion can reprogram such stem cell differentiation and inhibit tumour growth.

A tri-omic atlas of the mouse brain from postnatal day 0 to P21 reveals that layer-specific projection neurons have a role in coordinating axonogenesis and myelination.

A large consortium of researchers has mapped how brain cells establish diverse identities throughout neurodevelopment and across species.

Reproductive aging involves a decline in oocyte chromosome cohesion and various other developmental conditions that are difficult to study in isolation. We developed a mouse system that enables rapid manipulation of chromosome cohesion, which revealed that centromere dysfunction is a key driver of age-related chromosomal errors in mammalian eggs.

Cold-induced RNA-binding protein was shown to enhance DNA repair — plus, a more universal snakebite venom.

Spatial transcriptomics enables the characterization of diverse cell types with increasing resolution while retaining the spatial context of complex tissues. A study combines single-cell and spatial ‘spot’-based transcriptome measurements to identify cell states in the developing human heart and define spatial relationships within cardiac niches.

A cold-activated protein that mends damaged DNA could play a part in keeping the bowhead whale in tip-top shape.