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

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. To advance ...

Neural crest cells are a population of stem cells that invade the embryo in early development. They play a big role in what ...

BEIJING -- After years of dedicated research, a team of Chinese scientists has unveiled critical mechanisms governing early human embryonic development, offering novel theories and potential ...

Biologists have provided new insights on a longstanding puzzle in biology: How complex organisms arise from a single fertilized cell. Producing a new 'gene atlas' with 4-D imaging, the researchers ...

New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility. A critical point in early development is ...

Transposable elements are stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. Many of these DNA sequences originate from long ago, when viruses inserted their genetic material into our ancestors' ...

Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the "dark side" of the ...

Researchers have discovered a key transition in early embryonic development is facilitated by decreasing levels of a viral protein inserted into the DNA of our early animal ancestors. Researchers at ...