When mating type plus and minus gametes of Chlamydomonas are mixed, they agglutinate with each other via their flagella, fuse, then initiate the zygote formation program which includes synthesis of the zygote cell wall, fusion of nuclei and chloroplasts, and the digestion of chloroplast DNA from the minus parent. The mRNAs from gamete and zygote cells was isolated and hybridized to cDNA-macroar...

During embryonic pattern formation, the main body axes are established and cells of different developmental fates are specified from a single-cell zygote. Despite the fundamental importance of this process, in plants, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. We show that expression dynamics of novel WOX (WUSCHEL related homeobox) gene family members reveal early embryonic patterning event...

The current systematic review was aimed to assess the effectiveness of the zygote morphology evaluation in fresh in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles. All available studies reporting on zygote morphology and clinical and/or biological outcomes were analyzed. Forty studies were included in the final analysis. Fourteen different zygote scoring systems we...

In flowering plants, haploid gametes – an egg cell and a sperm fuse to form the first diploid zygote. The zygote is progenitor stem that gives rise all embryonic post tissues organs. Unlike animals, both maternal paternal gene products participate in initial development of zygotes plants. Here, we discuss recent advances understanding zygotic transition embryo initiation angiosperms, including ...

Chlamydomonas monoica undergoes homothallic sexual reproduction in response to nitrogen starvation. Mating pairs are established in clonal culture via flagellar agglutination and fuse by way of activated mating structures to form the quadriflagellate zygote. The zygote further matures into a dormant diploid zygospore through a series of events that we collectively refer to as zygosporulation. M...

BACKGROUND Identification of embryos with high implantation potential remains a challenge in in vitro fertilization (IVF). Subjective pronuclear (PN) zygote scoring systems have been developed for that purpose. The aim of this work was to provide a software tool that enables objective measuring of morphological characteristics of the human PN zygote. METHODS A computer program was created to ...

Within the first hour of zygote maturation, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells stop synthesizing certain polypeptides that characterize the vegetative and gametic stages of the life cycle and initiate the synthesis of novel, zygote-specific polypeptides. At least six of these polypeptides are secreted into the medium, and fine-structural studies indicate that they represent components of the cell ...

Mammalian zygote-mediated genome-engineering by Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR)/Cas is currently used for the generation of genome-modified animals. Here, we report that a Campylobacter jejuni-derived orthologous CRISPR/Cas system recognizes a 5'-NNNVRYAC sequence as a protospacer-adjacent motif in mouse zygotes, and is applicable for efficient generation of kn...