New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility. A critical point in early development is ...

In the earliest hours after fertilization, an embryo takes its first steps toward becoming a living organism by shedding maternal control and activating its own genetic program. This critical process, ...

A new study using stem cell-based models has shed new light on how the human embryo begins to develop, which could one day benefit the development of fertility treatment. The study led by at the ...

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 ...

A stretch of viral DNA in the mouse genome gives cells in early-stage embryos the potential to become almost any cell type in the body.

The earliest days after fertilization, once a sperm cell meets an egg, are shrouded in scientific mystery. The process of how a humble single cell becomes an organism fascinates scientists across ...

Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the "dark side" of the ...

New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human ...

Integrated screening and CRISPR reveal eleven previously unknown factors essential for early embryo development. They showed that CXCR2 and CTSD are required for preimplantation development.

A research team showed that, contrary to current models, one early embryonic cell dominates lineages that will become the fetus. “They are not identical,” said Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, a ...