TY - JOUR
T1 - Making a firm decision
T2 - Multifaceted regulation of cell fate in the early mouse embryo
AU - Zernicka-Goetz, Magdalena
AU - Morris, Samantha A.
AU - Bruce, Alexander W.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the Wellcome Trust for support.
PY - 2009/7
Y1 - 2009/7
N2 - The preimplantation mammalian embryo offers a striking opportunity to address the question of how and why apparently identical cells take on separate fates. Two cell fate decisions are taken before the embryo implants; these decisions set apart a group of pluripotent cells, progenitors for the future body, from the distinct extraembryonic lineages of trophectoderm and primitive endoderm. New molecular, cellular and developmental insights reveal the interplay of transcriptional regulation, epigenetic modifications, cell position and cell polarity in these two fate decisions in the mouse. We discuss how mechanisms proposed in previously distinct models might work in concert to progressively reinforce cell fate decisions through feedback loops.
AB - The preimplantation mammalian embryo offers a striking opportunity to address the question of how and why apparently identical cells take on separate fates. Two cell fate decisions are taken before the embryo implants; these decisions set apart a group of pluripotent cells, progenitors for the future body, from the distinct extraembryonic lineages of trophectoderm and primitive endoderm. New molecular, cellular and developmental insights reveal the interplay of transcriptional regulation, epigenetic modifications, cell position and cell polarity in these two fate decisions in the mouse. We discuss how mechanisms proposed in previously distinct models might work in concert to progressively reinforce cell fate decisions through feedback loops.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67649822214&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nrg2564
DO - 10.1038/nrg2564
M3 - Review article
C2 - 19536196
AN - SCOPUS:67649822214
SN - 1471-0056
VL - 10
SP - 467
EP - 477
JO - Nature Reviews Genetics
JF - Nature Reviews Genetics
IS - 7
ER -