Growing an Embryo from a Single Cell: A Hurdle in Animal Life
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TLDR
In mammals and in endoparasites, development in a nutritive environment releases the growth constraint, but growth of cells before gastrulation requires a new program to sustain pluripotency during this growth.Abstract:
A requirement that an animal be able to feed to grow constrains how a cell can grow into an animal, and it forces an alternation between growth (increase in mass) and proliferation (increase in cell number). A growth-only phase that transforms a stem cell of ordinary proportions into a huge cell, the oocyte, requires dramatic adaptations to help a nucleus direct a 10(5)-fold expansion of cytoplasmic volume. Proliferation without growth transforms the huge egg into an embryo while still accommodating an impotent nucleus overwhelmed by the voluminous cytoplasm. This growth program characterizes animals that deposit their eggs externally, but it is changed in mammals and in endoparasites. In these organisms, development in a nutritive environment releases the growth constraint, but growth of cells before gastrulation requires a new program to sustain pluripotency during this growth.read more
Citations
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Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution
TL;DR: The theory that biological species are descended from common ancestors provides an indispensable heuristic to understand why living organisms are what they are and do what they do.
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Expression of engrailed proteins in arthropods, annelids and chordates
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Zygotic Genome Activation in Vertebrates.
TL;DR: Progress in understanding vertebrate ZGA dynamics in frogs, fish, mice, and humans is reviewed to explore differences and emphasize common features.
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Waves of Cdk1 Activity in S Phase Synchronize the Cell Cycle in Drosophila Embryos
TL;DR: In Drosophila embryos, Cdk1 positive feedback serves primarily to ensure the rapid onset of mitosis, while wave propagation is regulated by S phase events, demonstrating a fundamental distinction between S phase Cdk 1 waves, which propagate as active trigger waves in an excitable medium, and mitotic Cdk2 waves, who propagate as passive phase waves.
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Capturing Totipotent Stem Cells
TL;DR: The biological and molecular characterization of cultured cells with developmental potential similar to totipotent blastomeres are reviewed, and recent progress toward the capture and stabilization of the totip powerless state in vitro is assessed.
References
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Günter Blobel,Van R. Potter +1 more
TL;DR: The distribution of RNA in rat liver has been determined to be: 80% ribosomal RNA, 15% non-sedimentable RNA, and 4 to 5% nuclear RNA.
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