Embryo Development

Researchers represent mammalian embryonic development as a continuous process by integrating single-cell RNA sequencing data with embryo morphology

HIV studies boosted by the development of a CCR5-edited Mauritian cynomolgus macaque model via gene-editing of embryos

New research describes an evolutionarily conserved molecular cascade that initiates trophectoderm segregation in human, cow, and mouse embryos

Differential keratin regulation during early mouse embryo development controls the asymmetrically inherited determination of cell fate

Researchers from the UK construct a detailed molecular and cellular map of the human decidual-placental interface between 6 to 14 weeks of gestation

A new blastocyst complementation study describes the ability of wild type and gene-modified embryonic stem cells to contribute to mouse brain development

The development of the “blastoid” via the combination of trophoblast and embryonic stem cells may prove an interesting model for the study of early development 

A new study employs CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing to uncover differing developmental roles for the OCT4 pluripotency gene in human and mouse early embryos

Sophisticated analysis of human adult cells has allowed researchers to pinpoint somatic mutations that occur in the developing embryo

DNA methylation during mouse development is known to be a dynamic process; fertilization involves the removal of paternally contributed DNA, and this loss of DNA methylation continues until the blastocyst stage, when the inner cell mass (ICM) forms (Reik et al). After this stage, embryo implantation occurs alongside global re-methylation of the genome that is believed to contribute to lineage restriction and the loss of cellular potency (Kafri et al and Borgel et al).   However, while this model is informative, no base-resolution maps covering stages of mouse development have been constructed to allow for its precise analysis. Now in a report published in Nature from the laboratory of Alexander Meissner at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, USA, researchers have generated such maps, providing provide a genome-scale, base-resolution timeline of DNA methylation where they demonstrate the dynamic nature of this epigenetic mark, before it returns to an expected somatic pattern (Smith and Chan et al).