Multicellularity is one of the most profound phenomena in biology, and relies on the ability of a single cell to reorganize ...

Transposable elements are stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. Many of these DNA sequences originate from long ago, when viruses inserted their genetic material into our ancestors' ...

BEIJING -- After years of dedicated research, a team of Chinese scientists has unveiled critical mechanisms governing early human embryonic development, offering novel theories and potential ...

Neural crest cells are a population of stem cells that invade the embryo in early development. They play a big role in what ...

Cell division is an essential process for all life on Earth, yet the exact mechanisms by which cells divide during early embryonic development have remained elusive—particularly for egg-laying species ...

Biologists have provided new insights on a longstanding puzzle in biology: How complex organisms arise from a single fertilized cell. Producing a new 'gene atlas' with 4-D imaging, the researchers ...

Cell division is an essential process for all life on earth, yet the exact mechanisms by which cells divide during early embryonic development have remained elusive – particularly for egg-laying ...

A new discovery by researchers challenges our current understanding of gastrulation, the most important stage of early embryonic development. When the zygote, or the fertilised egg, starts to develop, ...

Left: staining for H3K27me3, which marks inactive DNA, on a nucleus of a wildtype embryo consisting of two cells Right: staining for H3K27me3, which marks inactive DNA, on a nucleus of an embryo ...