The maternal-to-zygotic transition: An asynchronous split.

Mol Reprod Dev. 2012 Dec 4;

Authors: Kong BY, Woodruff TK

Abstract

The early cell cycles of preimplantation embryo development are unique in the scheme of mitotic cell proliferation as cell division is not coupled to cell growth, leading to a halving of blastomere volume with each cleavage event. Among the early mouse embryonic divisions, the first two are particularly different, lasting almost twice as long as subsequent divisions. The third cell cycle is marked by the transition of a four-cell embryo into an eight-cell embryo, and represents the first complete cell cycle occurring after activation of the zygotic genome. Mol. Reprod. Dev. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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PMID: 23213006 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]