Biosynthetic traffic from the Golgi drives plasma membrane growth. For Drosophila embryo cleavage, this growth is rapid but regulated for cycles of furrow ingression and regression. The highly conserved small G protein Arf1 organizes Golgi trafficking. Arf1 is activated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors, but essential roles for Arf1 GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) are less clear. We repo...

BACKGROUND The absence of reliable markers for the identification of viable embryos for transfer at the early cleavage stage is likely to contribute to the generally low implantation rates and high incidence of multiple gestation in IVF treatment. In this study, we investigate the relationship between timing of first cleavage and the incidence of blastocyst formation in vitro. METHODS Couples...

Embryo quality related to its developmental potential is now one of the most important issues in modern embryology. It has been demonstrated that some in vitro produced blastocysts fail to hatch and implant after transfer despite a normal morphology. Although embryos are able to adjust to sub-optimal culture conditions, significant changes in expression profiles of developmentally important gen...

Effective protocols are introduced for parthenogenesis activation in oocytes. Hydrostatic pressure can act as a mechanical stimulator that rearranges egg contents, leading to new structural or molecular combination. Alternatively, mechanical stimulation could stimulate a mechanically-gated process, such as opening or closing of stretch activated ion channels. This study, investigated the use of...

Background: Spiral cleavage is a remarkably conserved pattern of embryogenesis present in animals of the clade Spiralia, such as annelids, molluscs, flatworms and nemerteans. However, not all spiralians display spiral cleavage. Recent phylogenies suggest that the spiral arrangement of embryonic blastomeres is an ancestral trait for the Spiralia and that it was secondarily modified in several sp...