The genetic information contributed by eggs and spermatozoa to development of embryos to term has until recently been assumed to be equivalent. However, evidence now suggests that in the mouse and perhaps in all mammals the parental genomes have complementary roles during embryogenesis and both are essential for development to term (Surani, Barton & Norris, 1984; McGrath & Solter, 1984a; Cattanach & Kirk, 1985; Surani, 1986). Functional differences between the parental genomes presumably arise as a consequence of specific modifications of homologous chromosomes in the germline, when they are segregated and exposed to different epigenetic factors during oogenesis and spermatogenesis. These ‘imprinted’ modifications of parental chromosomes are then brought together following fertilization and subsequently propagated to influence events throughout development. It is also essential that at some stage of ontogeny the specific modifications are reversed and the whole process repeated in the formation of new...
About us
Our publisher, The Company of Biologists, turns 100 this year. Read about the history of the Company and find out what Sarah Bray, our Chair of the Board of Directors, has to say.
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025
We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
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.
In preprints
Social media
