Mammalian embryo development is characterised by regulative mechanisms of lineage segregation and cell specification. A combination of carefully orchestrated gene expression networks, signalling pathways and epigenetic marks defines specific developmental stages that can now be resolved at the single-cell level. These new ways to depict developmental processes have the potential to provide answ...

Domestic animals are often described as paedomorphic, meaning that they retain juvenile characteristics into adulthood. Through a three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometric analysis of cranial morphology at three growth stages, we demonstrate that wild boar (n = 138) and domestic pigs (n = 106) (Sus scrofa) follow distinct ontogenetic trajectories. With the exception of the size ra...

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) give rise to the germ line in animals. PGCs are specified during embryogenesis either by an ancestral mechanism of cell-cell signalling (induction) or by a derived mechanism of maternally provided germ plasm (preformation). Recently, a hypothesis was set forth purporting that germ plasm liberates selective constraint and accelerates an organism's protein sequence ev...

A hallmark of genes that are subject to developmental regulation of transcriptional elongation is association of the negative elongation factor NELF with the paused RNA polymerase complex. Here we use a combination of biochemical and genetic experiments to investigate the in vivo function of NELF in the Drosophila embryo. NELF associates with different gene promoter regions in correlation with ...

Hox collinearity is a spectacular phenomenon that has excited life scientists since its discovery in 1978. Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain the spatially sequential pattern of Hox gene expression in animal embryonic development: interactions among Hox genes, or the progressive opening of chromatin in the Hox clusters, from 3' to 5'. A review of the evidence across different species ...

objectives: there are various developmental screening tools that are different in terms of psychometric characteristics and choosing the best one is challenging for the pediatrician. this research was designed to identify the validity and reliability of parents evaluation of developmental status, a developmental screening questionnaire, in 4-60 months-old children in the city of tehran. methods...