Gastrulation in Mus musculus (common house mouse)

As mice embryos develop, they undergo a stage of development called gastrulation [7]. The hallmark of vertebrate gastrulation [7] is the reorganization of the inner cell mass [8] (ICM) into the three germ layers [9]: ectoderm [10], mesoderm [11], and endoderm [12]. Mammalian embryogenesis [13] occurs within organisms; therefore, gastrulation [7] was originally described in species with easily observable embryos. For example, the African clawed frog [14] (Xenopus laevis [15]) is a widely used organism to study gastrulation [7] because the large embryos develop inside a translucent membrane. Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) provided researchers another early model to study gastrulation [7] because researchers could open the egg [16] during development to look inside. Despite the challenges associated with studying mammalian gastrulation [7], the common house mouse [17] (Mus musculus) has helped to shed light on the unique adaptations associated with mammalian development.