New complexities in relationship between gene mutation and embryo development

Posted by DMDD, on 11 April 2017

A large-scale study of DMDD data has shown that inactivating the same gene in mouse embryos that are virtually genetically identical can result in a wide range and severity of physical abnormalities. This suggests that the relationship between gene mutation and embryo development is more complex than previously thought.

A comparison of two embryos that are both missing the embryonic lethal gene Coro1c. The embryo on the right has abnormal viscerocranium (facial skeleton) morphology, while the embryo on the left does not.

The study considered 220 mouse embryos, each with one of 42 different genes inactivated. These genes are part of a set known as ‘embryonic lethal’, because they are so crucial to development that an embryo missing any one of them can’t survive to birth. Studying these genes can help us understand how embryos develop, why some miscarry and why some mutations can lead to abnormalities.

Read more on the DMDD’s blog, Annotations, here:

NEW COMPLEXITIES IN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENE MUTATION AND EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT

(No Ratings Yet)

Tags: DMDD, genotype, phenotype
Categories: Research

Get involved

Create an account or log in to post your story on the Node.

Click here

Sign up for emails

Subscribe to our mailing lists.

Most-read posts in September

Model Organism Databases are more than just repositories by Beatrice Milnes and Mansi Srivastava
A short rant on the present and future of developmental biology by Jonas Hartmann
A Day in the Life of a Hofstenia Lab by Eliza Hirsch and Paul Bump
SciCommConnect: A masterclass in how to deliver your message in the spoken or the written word by Alex Neaverson, Rachel McKeown and Anna Guixeras Fontana
SciArt profile: Yoshinari Yoshida
Making a map: exploring the origins of the shoulder and neck by Shunya Kuroda
How we learned to build a gliding mammal by Jorge Moreno
Behind the paper: Highlighting skeleton-producing cells during the development of a pentaradial animal by Heidi Tate

Do you have any news to share?

Our ‘Developing news’ posts celebrate the various achievements of the people in the developmental and stem cell biology community. Let us know if you would like to share some news.

Let us know