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Central spindle asymmetry, generated by the kinesin Klp10A and its antagonist Patronin, polarizes endosome motility and provides a mechanism for the asymmetric segregation of signalling endosomes observed in a variety of asymmetrically dividing cell types.

Daeden et al. report that branched Actin modulates size asymmetry in Drosophila sensory organ precursor cell division.

Existing DNA stains for live cell microscopy are either toxic, require illumination with blue light, or are not compatible with super-resolution microscopy. Here the authors develop SiRHoechst, a non-toxic far-red DNA stain that is compatible with super-resolution microscopy.

The Wnt/planar cell polarity (Wnt/PCP) pathway orients cell division in various developmental contexts including zebrafish gastrulation. Gonzalez-Gaitan and colleagues reveal that, downstream of Wnt/PCP, the anthrax toxin receptor 2a interacts with actin to form a cortical actin cap in dorsal epiblast cells, and acts through RhoA and the formin zDia2 to orient the mitotic spindle.

Four models have been proposed to explain growth control mediated by the morphogen Decapentaplegic in the fly imaginal disc. Recent findings have allowed a more careful evaluation of these models and may offer insights into morphogenetic growth control in other systems.

Castanon, González-Gaitán and colleagues report that Sara endosomes can regulate asymmetric cell division by unequally positioning endocytosed Notch ligand in one daughter cell.

Planelles-Herrero et al. identify a function for the Elongator complex independent of its enzymatic activity in controlling microtubule stability and generating central spindle asymmetry during asymmetric division in Drosophila.

Afonso et al. show that, during anaphase, chromosome movement can be driven by large cytoplasmic flows. These dynein-dependent cytoplasmic flows scale with cell size, slowing in smaller cells, thereby scaling anaphase.

This article describes the growing and invaluable contribution that quantitative mathematical frameworks are making to generating and testing hypotheses in developmental biology, and in shaping new ways of understanding developmental processes across molecular, cellular and tissue scales.

Asymmetric segregation of cell fate determinants during cell division governs daughter cell fate. Here the authors show that Sara endosomes, known to regulate Notch signalling, are targeted to the mitotic spindle and once phosphorylated are asymmetrically dispatched into a daughter cell to determine cell fate.

A mechanism involving intracellular recycling of the morphogen Decapentaplegic (Dpp) underlies the scaling of the Dpp gradient in the Drosophila wing disc, and this is modulated by the extracellular factors Pentagone and Dally.

Merino et al. report that the cell-death factor Flower can control responses to morphogen gradients and thus has a role in gradient scaling.

This study provides a mechanistic basis for differential signalling of Notch, by showing that in fly sensory organ precursors, Notch and Delta traffic to special endosomes marked by the protein Sara. The asymmetric trafficking of endosomes containing Notch and Delta increases Notch signalling in pIIa daughter cells and decreases it in pIIb cells.

Lipid membranes—which separate cells and organelles from their environment—experience tension during various cell processes; however, measuring membrane tension is notoriously difficult. Now, a new fluorescent, mechanosensitive membrane probe called FliptR has been developed. FliptR enables simple, direct membrane tension measurements in cellular and artificial membranes.

During development, oriented cell division is important to proper body axis extension. Here, the authors show that sphingolipids are required to direct spindle rotation and oriented mitosis via Anthrax receptor palmitoylation in zebrafish gastrulation.

In Zebrafish embryos spinal cords, neural precursors are clustered in two distinct populations based on their spindle-microtubule enrichment. KIF16Ba, CAMSAP2a/3a and spindle-microtubule enrichment control Sara endosome motility and mediate neural precursor fates.

Advances over the past decade in the development of imaging probes, microscopy techniques and image analysis have enabled researchers to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the dynamic processes of embryonic differentiation, patterning and morphogenesis through quantitative whole-animal imaging studies with high spatiotemporal resolution.