Preimplantation development is crucial for successful implantation and pregnancy in mammals. Compaction, an essential morphological change that occurs in eight-cell-stage embryos, has been extensively studied, but what regulates the preceding cell division stages? On p. 2751, Maekawa and colleagues report that extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK)mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase function is needed for these divisions in mouse embryos. They show that inhibition of ERK activation in late two-cell-stage embryos causes reversible arrest in G2 phase at the four-cell stage and that cell-cell adhesion is weaker in these embryos than in control embryos. Their microarray analysis shows that, although most of the changes in gene expression that occur during the four- to eight-cell stages of development occur in the four-cell-stage-arrested embryos, the expression of a subset of genes, including those encoding intercellular adhesion molecules and a set of cell cycle-related genes, is altered. Thus, the researchers conclude,ERK MAP kinase function is essential during the earliest stages of preimplantation development.
ERKsome disruption of early embryos
ERKsome disruption of early embryos. Development 1 August 2007; 134 (15): e1501. doi:
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