Antonia Weberling

TL;DR: It is shown that exit from an unrestricted naive pluripotent state is required for epiblast epithelialization and generation of the pro-amniotic cavity in mouse embryos and the relevance of transitions between these states during development of the mammalian embryo is shown.

TL;DR: The authors use live imaging with a cdx2-GFP reporter line in combination with loss of function experiments to demonstrate that FGF signalling mediated trophectoderm morphogenesis orchestrates this process.

TL;DR: Current knowledge of mammalian development of both mouse and human is reviewed, focusing on morphogenetic processes leading to the onset of gastrulation, when the embryonic anterior-posterior axis becomes established and the three germ layers start to be specified.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a group of asymmetrically positioned extra-embryonic hypoblast cells expressing inhibitors of BMP, NODAL and WNT signalling pathways and suggest that these cells can act as the anterior singalling centre to pattern the epiblast.

TL;DR: The molecular mechanism underlying zippering during mouse spinal neural tube closure is uncovered and integrin-mediated anchorage is proposed as an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of general relevance for zippered closure of epithelial gaps whose disturbance can produce clinically important birth defects.