Access

News and Views

Nature 430, 301-302 (15 July 2004) | doi:10.1038/430301a; Published online 14 July 2004

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

More science jobs
Post a job for free

Embryology:  Plane talk

Gerald Schatten1 & Peter Donovan2

Top

In mammals, is the three-dimensional body plan ingrained in the egg at or before fertilization? The answer is 'maybe, but then again maybe not'. Less invasive techniques might help to resolve matters.

Hans Spemann1 neatly summed up the importance of embryonic axes for correct animal development: "We are standing and walking with parts of our body which could have been used for thinking had they developed in another part of the embryo." But how and when are the embryonic axes established?

  1. Gerald Schatten is in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 204 Craft Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
    e-mail: Email: gschatten@pdc.magee.edu
  2. Peter Donovan is in the Institute for Cell Engineering, and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University, Broadway Research Building, Suite 559, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
    e-mail: Email: pdonova4@jhmi.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Developmental biology Sperm and mammalian polarity

Nature News and Views (25 Jan 2001)

RESEARCH

The first cleavage of the mouse zygote predicts the blastocyst axis

Nature Letters to Editor (17 Mar 2005)

Embryology Does prepatterning occur in the mouse egg? (Reply)

Nature Brief Communication (13 Jul 2006)

See all 5 matches for Research