Expression regulation of the Dlk1-Dio3 imprinted domain by the intergenic differentially methylated region (IG-DMR) is essential for normal embryonic development in mammals. In this study, we investigated conserved IG-DMR genomic sequences in eutherians to elucidate their role in genomic imprinting of the Dlk1-Dio3 domain. Using a comparative genomics approach, we identified three highly conser...

A fundamental goal of developmental biology is to define the molecular mechanisms that control cell behavior during morphogenesis. A recent study in BMC Biology combines gene expression profiling, bioinformatics and functional analysis to identify genes that shape the Drosophila embryo.

Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) provide a systems-level orchestration of an organism's genome encoded anatomy. As biological networks are revealed, they continue to answer many questions including knowledge of how GRNs control morphogenetic movements and how GRNs evolve. The migration of the small micromeres to the coelomic pouches in the sea urchin embryo provides an exceptional model for unde...

El-Sayed A, Hoelker M, Rings F, Salilew D, Jennen D, Tholen E, Sirard M-A, Schellander K, Tesfaye D. Large-scale transcriptional analysis of bovine embryo biopsies in relation to pregnancy success after transfer to recipients. Physiol Genomics 28: 84–96, 2006. First published October 3, 2006; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00111.2006.—The purpose of this work is to address the relationship between...

Recent evidence shows that through best standard operating procedures, chances of successful pregnancy and live birth delivery rates are less than 50%. Repeated Implantation Failure (RIF) following transfer of one or more numbers of cleavage or blastocyst stage embryos is the main cause of low pregnancy rate in IVF cycles; therefore, finding the causes and modifying treatment protocols to incre...

In the last century, agriculture has seen the introduction of innovating reproductive biotechnologies that have permitted this field to grow significantly. In the early 20th century, introduction of semen cryopreservation and artificial insemination has propelled animal agriculture worldwide with the possibility to import and export in a biosecure way genetics from different species. Then, with...

Thyroid hormone (TH) is essential for bone development. Altered TH levels such as hyperthyroidism, or thyrotoxicosis, results in the early maturation of cartilaginous scaffold long development, which can cause improper ossification. Maternal hyperthyroidism during embryonic development causes neonatal thyrotoxicosis and therefore lead to stunted growth infants. In our avian model induced we inj...

embryo culture were used to produce inter specific walnut hybrid plants between juglans nigra l. and j. regia l. developed ovaries were collected from j. rejia female flowers which were pollinated with j. nigra pollen grain by high dusting on a mature tree. in order to isolate embryos, exocarps were aseptically removed. isolated embryos from ovules at different developmental stages were transfe...

In the post genome era, a major goal in molecular biology is to determine the function of the many thousands of genes present in the vertebrate genome. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) provides an almost ideal genetic model to identify the biological roles of these novel genes, in part because their embryos are transparent and develop rapidly. The zebrafish has many advantages over mouse for genome-...