The YOUth cohort study aims to be a trailblazer for open science. Being a large-scale, longitudinal cohort following children in their development from gestation until early adulthood, YOUth collects a vast amount of data through a variety of research techniques. Data are collected through multiple platforms, including facilities managed by Utrecht University and the University Medical Center Utrecht.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Hemiptera (aphids, cicadas, and true bugs) are a key insect order, with high diversity for feeding ecology and excellent experimental tractability for molecular genetics. Building upon recent sequencing of hemipteran pests such as phloem-feeding aphids and blood-feeding bed bugs, we present the genome sequence and comparative analyses centered on the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus, a seed feeder of the family Lygaeidae.
Results: The 926-Mb Oncopeltus genome is well represented by the current assembly and official gene set.
We describe the dynamic process of abdominal segment generation in the milkweed bug We present detailed morphological measurements of the growing germband throughout segmentation. Our data are complemented by cell division profiles and expression patterns of key genes, including and as markers for different stages of segment formation. We describe morphological and mechanistic changes in the growth zone and in nascent segments during the generation of individual segments and throughout segmentation, and examine the relative contribution of newly formed versus existing tissue to segment formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Drosophila eggshell constitutes a remarkable system for the study of epithelial patterning, both experimentally and through computational modeling. Dorsal eggshell appendages arise from specific regions in the anterior follicular epithelium that covers the oocyte: two groups of cells expressing broad (roof cells) bordered by rhomboid expressing cells (floor cells). Despite the large number of genes known to participate in defining these domains and the important modeling efforts put into this developmental system, key patterning events still lack a proper mechanistic understanding and/or genetic basis, and the literature appears to conflict on some crucial points.
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