During the formation of the Drosophila heart, a combinatorial network that integrates signaling pathways and tissue-specific transcription factors specifies cardiac progenitors, which then undergo symmetric or asymmetric cell divisions to generate the final population of diversified cardiac cell types. Much has been learned concerning the combinatorial genetic network that initiates cardiogenes...

Background: The chick embryo is a classical model to study embryonic development. However, most researchers have not studied the effect of embryonic manipulation on chick hatchability. To determine the effect of egg orientation and type of sealing film on the hatchability of cultured embryos, and to determine the fate of adulte stem cells injected into the blastoderm. Materials and Methods: Win...

Cell fate determination is usually described as the result of the stochastic dynamics of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) reaching one of multiple steady-states each of which corresponds to a specific decision. However, the fate of a cell is determined in finite time suggesting the importance of transient dynamics in cellular decision making. Here we consider cellular decision making as resultin...

The maintenance of cell fate is important for normal development and tissue homeostasis. Epigenetic mechanisms, including histone modifications, are likely to play crucial roles in cell-fate maintenance. However, in contrast to the established functions of histone methylation, which are mediated by the polycomb proteins, the roles of histone acetylation in cell-fate maintenance are poorly under...