Many mouse somatic clones arrest at implantation with a pattern of developmental failure that resembles that of Oct4-deficient mouse embryos – a transcription factor-encoding gene required for inner cell mass (ICM) development. To investigate whether somatic clone embryonic development fails because of the incomplete reactivation of genes, likeOct4, that are required for the development of a pluripotent ICM,Bortvin and colleagues analysed the expression of 10 genes with anOct4-like embryonic expression pattern, and Oct4 itself, in cloned blastocysts derived from cumulus and ES cells. Their findings, onp. 1673, show that only 62% of cumulus-derived blastocysts correctly express all eleven genes tested, whereas ES cell-derived and normal embryos express them normally, indicating that the incomplete reactivation of such genes might contribute to the embryonic failure of somatic clones.
History of our journals
As our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 years old, read about Development’s journey and highlights from some its first issues, and explore the history of each of our sister journals: Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms and Biology Open.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues
Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology
In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
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