First published online July 10, 2007
Development 134, 1501e (2007)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
ERKsome disruption of early embryos
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.
Related articles in Development:
- Requirement for ERK MAP kinase in mouse preimplantation development
- Momoko Maekawa, Takuya Yamamoto, Michiaki Kohno, Masatoshi Takeichi, and Eisuke Nishida
Development 2007 134: 2751-2759.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
