Multicellularity is one of the most profound phenomena in biology, and relies on the ability of a single cell to reorganize ...

Researchers have gained new insights into the mechanism behind the spatial organization of DNA within the cells of early embryos. When an embryo is first formed after fertilization, each cell has the ...

Descriptions of the embryo go back at least to the time of Aristotle, but it has only been since the late 19 th century and early 20 th century that advances in experimental approaches allowed ...

Cell division is an essential process for all life on earth, yet the exact mechanisms by which cells divide during early embryonic development have remained elusive – particularly for egg-laying ...

The discovery of a gene essential to early embryonic development sheds light on the preliminary stages of human placenta formation. A team led by scientists from the University of California San Diego ...

Glycolysis is an ancient metabolic activity. It consists of a set of reactions that convert glucose into energy. This central process allows cells to grow, divide, and stay alive. It has accompanied ...

The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery. The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across ...

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are found in the inner cell mass of the human blastocyst, an early stage of the developing embryo lasting from the 4 th to 7 th day after fertilization. In normal embryonic ...

Left: staining for H3K27me3, which marks inactive DNA, on a nucleus of a wildtype embryo consisting of two cells Right: staining for H3K27me3, which marks inactive DNA, on a nucleus of an embryo ...