embryonic development tagged posts

Mitosis, stage four (stock image). At the start of an individual’s life there is a single fertilized egg cell. One day after fertilization there are two cells, after two days four, after three days eight and so on, until there are billions of cells at birth. The order in which our genes are activated after fertilization has remained one of the last uncharted territories of human development. Credit: © Tatiana Shepeleva / Fotolia

The fertilized egg gene mapping provides an in-depth understanding of early embryonic development in humans – and scientists now hope that the results will help finding for example new therapies against infertility and genetic disease. There are ~23,000 human genes in total...

The tetrameric TOPLESS complex with the EAR motif peptides bound at its repressor-peptide binding grooves. The repressor peptides are shown as a ball presentation. Credit: Karsten Melcher, Ph.D., Van Andel Research Institute

Scientists at Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) have revealed an important molecular mechanism in plants that has significant similarities to certain signaling mechanisms in humans, which are closely linked to early embryonic development and to diseases such as cancer. In plants as in animals and humans, intricate molecular networks regulate key biological functions, such as development and stress responses. When the wrong switches are flipped, genes can be inappropriately turned on or off, leading to the onset of diseases.

“This is really a fundamental discovery –...