Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model to observe cell movements and shape changes during the morphogenesis of the egg-shaped embryo into an elongated tube-like larva. Although much is known about the structural determinants involved in epidermal morphogenesis, relatively little is known about the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory networks involved. Here, we describe the...

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) plays a pivotal role in the first steps of endothelial and haematopoietic development in the yolk sac, as well as in the establishment of the cardiovascular system of the embryo. At the onset of gastrulation, VEGFA is primarily expressed in the yolk sac visceral endoderm and in the yolk sac mesothelium. We report the generation and analysis of a Vegf...

The gap gene hunchback (hb) is required for the formation and segmentation of two regions of the Drosophila embryo, a broad anterior domain and a narrow posterior domain. Accumulation of hb transcript in the posterior of the embryo occurs in two phases, an initial cap covering the terminal 15% of the embryo followed by a stripe at the anterior edge of this region. By in situ hybridization with ...

In higher plants, seed development requires maternal gene activity in the haploid (gametophytic) as well as diploid (sporophytic) tissues of the developing ovule. The Arabidopsis thaliana gene MEDEA (MEA) encodes a SET-domain protein of the Polycomb group that regulates cell proliferation by exerting a gametophytic maternal control during seed development. Seeds derived from female gametocytes ...

The endothelial cell protein C receptor (EPCR) augments protein C activation by the thrombin-thrombomodulin complex. Deletion of the EPCR gene (Procr) in mice leads to embryonic lethality before embryonic day 10 (E10.0). EPCR is detected in the giant trophoblast cells at the feto-maternal boundary from E7.5 and weakly in embryonic aortic endothelial cells from E13.5, suggesting that extraembryo...

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the leading causes of offspring malformations, in which eye malformation is an important disease. It has raised demand for therapy to improve fetal outcomes. In this study, we used chick embryo to establish a GDM model to study the protective effects of proanthocyanidins on eye development. Chick embryos were exposed to high glucose (0.2 mmol/egg) o...

Biotechnology can offer useful tools to complement conventional breeding programs. The techniques of in vitro selection, that exploit phenomenon, called somaclonal variation, by screening cell cultures for resistance to herbicides, different types of stress or diseases, already helped to obtain tolerant lines of flax (Linum usitatissimum), which were used in further commercial breeding programs...

The endothelial cell protein C receptor (EPCR) augments protein C activation by the thrombin-thrombomodulin complex. Deletion of the EPCR gene (Procr) in mice leads to embryonic lethality before embryonic day 10 (E10.0). EPCR is detected in the giant trophoblast cells at the fetomaternal boundary from E7.5 and weakly in embryonic aortic endothelial cells from E13.5, suggesting that extraembryon...

tmrna (also known as ssra or 10sa rna) is so-named for its dual nature so that can function like trna and mrna. tmrna involved in a trans-translation reaction that truly is a kind of translational quality control system. this process contributes to the recycling of stalled translation complexes at the end of an mrna lacking a stop codon or at an internal mrna cluster of rare codons in a process...

As the fertilized Xenopus egg undergoes sequential cell divisions to form a blastula, each cell develops a network of cortical actin that provides shape and skeletal support for the whole embryo. Disruption of this network causes loss of shape and rigidity of the embryo, and disrupts gastrulation movements. We previously showed that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling controls the change in c...