Embryonic development or embryogenesis is the process by which the embryo is formed and develops. It starts with the fertilization of the ovum, egg, which, after fertilization, is then called a zygote. The zygote undergoes rapid mitotic divisions, the formation of two exact genetic replicates of the original cell, with no significant growth (a process known as cleavage) and cellular differentiation, leading to development of an embryo.
Stem cells possess the remarkable ability to differentiate and replace deceased or impaired cells within the body.
A new study is in progress to unravel a fascinating biological mystery of how certain animals can naturally eliminate more than half of their genetic information during embryonic development.
When a cell dies, a new one has to be formed in its place. This is a regular occurrence in the intestines, where cells are especially exposed to harmful effects.
Despite being an essential developmental process, the understanding of human embryonic genome activation is limited, owing to the lack of in vitro cell models and ethical concerns.
Case Western Reserve University biochemical researchers have identified a new function of a key protein that leads to cancer–a finding they believe could lead to more effective treatments for a range of cancers and other diseases.
The non-specific lethal (NSL) complex is a chromatin-associated factor that has been shown in both fruit flies and mammals to regulate the expression of thousands of genes. Abrogation of the NSL genes causes the organism to die, which gives rise to the complex’s unusual name.
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy aim to destroy cancer cells by inducing DNA double-strand breaks – damage that, once inflicted, usually causes the cells to die. But damage to a cell's genetic material also activates a signaling pathway called IKK/NF-κB that helps prevent cell death, thus limiting the success of these treatments in patients.
Alternative splicing, a clever way a cell generates many different variations of messenger RNAs -; single-stranded RNAs involved in protein synthesis -; and proteins from the same stretch of DNA, plays an important role in molecular biology.
Lung mesenchymal cells, which are crucial components of the lung’s distinctive structure, also play a significant role in disease and injury recovery, but research into their biology and how they start disorders like pulmonary fibrosis is limited.
Lacking bones, brains, and even a complete gut, the body plans of simple animals like sea anemones appear to have little in common with humans and their vertebrate kin.
Many of life’s secrets are hidden in the initial stages of embryonic development. Unraveling these mysteries can aid in the understanding of early development and birth abnormalities, as well as the creation of innovative regenerative medicine treatments.
Cancer's ability to spread throughout the body -; a process known as metastasis -; is responsible for the vast majority of cancer deaths.
Many birth defects and spontaneous abortions occur during the embryonic development stage known as neurulation, yet we have very little insight into how this critical developmental process unfolds in humans.
RNA, particularly mRNA, has recently received some attention as the major component of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Researchers have discovered an active multi-layer circuit that emerges in the cortex at an unexpectedly early stage of development using a new method for analyzing live embryonic mouse brains at single-cell resolution.
Human embryo development and early organ development remain unclear due to ethical concerns about using embryos for research and a scarcity of materials to investigate.
Scientists have learned how to manufacture induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from regular cells through genetic reprogramming during the last ten years.
Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood. A team led by scientists from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Lausanne (UNIL) has discovered the importance of cell metabolism in this process and identified how to wake up these neural stem cells and reactivate them. Biologists succeeded in increasing the number of new neurons in the brain of adult and even elderly mice. These results, promising for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, are to be discovered in the journal Science Advances.
Computer software developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis can predict what happens to complex gene networks when individual genes are missing or dialed up more than usual.
For cis-regulatory elements in the genome to function, which is crucial for gene regulation, a high-order chromatin structure is required. Three-dimensional (3D) genome organization in eukaryotes exhibits a hierarchical structure.