214 papers
Developmental biology explores the incredible journey of how a single cell transforms into a complex, living organism. This field investigates the molecular switches and cellular conversations that guide growth, tissue formation, and the emergence of unique body structures, helping us understand both the origins of life and the roots of developmental disorders.
At Gist.Science, we ensure you never miss a breakthrough by processing every new preprint in this category from bioRxiv. Our team provides both plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries for each paper, making cutting-edge research accessible to everyone regardless of their scientific background.
Below are the latest studies in developmental biology, offering fresh insights into how life takes shape.
This study optimizes a high-pressure freezing sample preparation workflow for array tomography volume EM of the marine annelid *Platynereis dumerilii* larvae by systematically evaluating fixation and staining methods via synchrotron X-ray imaging and SEM to establish a robust protocol adaptable to similar marine planktonic organisms.
This paper introduces SCRIBBLE, a novel, high-resolution, and evolvable lineage tracing tool based on prime editing that enables the scalable reconstruction of complex, multigenerational cell lineages, as demonstrated by its successful application in mapping retinal development in embryonic mice.
This study reveals that adult Drosophila ovaries mount distinct, active transcriptional responses to mild cold versus warm temperatures, characterized by opposing gene regulation patterns and specific transposable element modulation, ultimately driving differential outcomes in germline stem cell maintenance and oocyte quality.
This study establishes the first germline-specific reporter system in the jawless sea lamprey, demonstrating deep evolutionary conservation of germline regulatory mechanisms between jawless and jawed vertebrates and revealing that increased primordial germ cell abundance biases zebrafish toward female sexual differentiation.
This study of 223 infants utilizes multimodal neuroimaging and metagenomics to reveal coordinated developmental patterns and bidirectional temporal relationships between gut microbiome features and early brain maturation, though causality remains unestablished.
This study reveals that NR2F1 regulates retinal specialization and foveal development by controlling a retinoic acid signaling network, the disruption of which by pathogenic variants causes foveal hypoplasia in patients with Bosch-Boonstra-Schaaf optic atrophy syndrome (BBSOAS).
This study reveals that human-specific retrotransposons, particularly SVA-F and LTR5Hs, function as active cis-regulatory elements in bipotent neural precursors by harboring motifs for both neural crest and central nervous system lineages, thereby encoding the regulatory logic that maintains early developmental competence.
This paper introduces MOMbot, an autonomous robot scientist that integrates multimodal physical interventions with active learning and high-resolution imaging to efficiently explore vast biological parameter spaces and discover complex input-output relationships across diverse biological systems.
This study identifies NEMP1 as a critical nuclear envelope organizer that couples telomeres to the LINC complex to ensure proper chromosome movement, telomere integrity, and genome stability during mammalian meiosis, thereby preventing aneuploidy and ensuring fertility.
This study reveals that an integrated environment-endocrine-epigenetic axis, involving juvenile hormone, ecdysone, and histone modifications, mediates the thermal and nutritional plasticity driving extreme size variation in the invasive fire ant *Solenopsis invicta*, challenging established biological rules and offering a new framework for understanding adaptive phenotypic evolution.