During gastrulation, Hox genes are activated in a timesequence that follows the order of the genes along their clusters. This property, which is observed in all animals that develop following a progressive rostral-to-caudal morphogenesis, is associated wit ...
In the aquatic environment, microplastic particles (MP) can accumulate in microbial communities that cover submerged substrata, i.e. in periphyton. Despite periphyton being the essential food source for grazers in the benthic zones, MP transfer from periph ...
Constitutive heterochromatin is essential for transcriptional silencing and genome integrity. The establishment of constitutive heterochromatin in early embryos and its role in early fruitfly development are unknown. Lysine 9 trimethylation of histone H3 ( ...
Recent research shows prominent effects of pregnancy and the parenthood transition on structural brain characteristics in humans. Here, we present a comprehensive study of how parental status and number of children born/fathered links to markers of brain a ...
Humans and other tetrapods are considered to require apical-ectodermal-ridge (AER) cells for limb development, and AER-like cells are suggested to be re-formed to initiate limb regeneration. Paradoxically, the presence of AER in the axolotl, a primary mode ...
BackgroundIt is generally accepted that most evolutionary transformations at the phenotype level are associated either with rearrangements of genomic regulatory elements, which control the activity of gene networks, or with changes in the amino acid conten ...
Understanding how biological matter takes its shape is instrumental to biology, bioengineering, medicine, and bioinspired engineering. Gaining information on the principles of morphogenesis could enable clinicians to correct developmental abnormalities, ev ...
In vertebrate embryos, the elongating body axis is patterned via the sequential and rhyth-mic production of segments from a posterior unsegmented tissue called the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). This process is controlled by a population of cellular oscillator ...
The transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments represents a significant event in the history of evolution. For this transition to occur, animals had to adapt their morphology, physiology and locomotory skills to handle the challenges and interacti ...
X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is an essential process, yet it initiates with remarkable diversity in various mammalian species. XIST, the main trigger of XCI, is controlled in the mouse by an interplay of lncRNA genes (LRGs), some of which evolved concom ...
