With the recent advent of systems biology, developmental biology is taking a new turn. Attempts to create a 'digital embryo' are prominent among systems approaches. At the heart of these systems-based endeavours, variously described as 'in vivo imaging', 'live imaging' or 'in toto representation', are visualization techniques that allow researchers to image whole, live embryos at cellular resolution over time. Ultimately, the aim of the visualizations is to build a computer model of embryogenesis. This article examines the role of such visualization techniques in the building of a computational model, focusing, in particular, on the cinematographic character of these representations. It asks how the animated representation of development may change the biological understanding of embryogenesis. By situating the animations of the digital embryo within the iconography of developmental biology, it brings to light the inextricably entwined, yet shifting, borders between the animated, the living and the computational.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0007087417000656 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Prenatal ethanol exposure results in cell-type, age, and sex-dependent differences in the neonatal striatum that coincide with early motor deficits.
eNeuro
March 2025
Department of Molecular and Systems Biology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover NH 03755 United States.
Delayed motor development is an early clinical sign of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). However, changes at the neural circuit level that underlie early motor differences are underexplored. The striatum, the principal input nucleus of the basal ganglia, plays an important role in motor learning in adult animals, and the maturation of the striatal circuit has been associated with the development of early motor behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEsrp1 and Esrp2 regulate the stability of / mRNAs in zebrafish sensory hair cells.
J Neurosci
March 2025
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cells and Developmental Biology and Key Laboratory for Experimental Teratology of the Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong 266237, China
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are important for post-transcriptional RNA processing, including pre-mRNA alternative splicing, mRNA stability, and translation. Several RBPs have been shown to play pivotal roles in the inner ear, whose dysfunction leads to auditory and/or balance impairments. Epithelial splicing-regulatory protein 1 (ESRP1) regulates alternative splicing and mRNA stability, and mutations in gene have been associated with sensorineural hearing loss in humans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLmCHS1 mediates pro-nymphal cuticle formation in Locusta migratoria embryogenesis.
J Insect Physiol
March 2025
Research Institute of Applied Biology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, PR China. Electronic address:
The pro-nymphal cuticle, serving as a protective structure that facilitates environmental adaptation, is critical for insect embryonic development. However, the mechanisms governing its formation remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the important role of chitin synthase (LmCHS1) in the formation of the pro-nymphal cuticle during embryonic development in Locusta migratoria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSingle-cell multiomic comparison of mouse and rat spermatogenesis reveals gene regulatory networks conserved for over 20 million years.
Stem Cell Reports
March 2025
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address:
Spermatogenesis is driven by dramatic changes in chromatin regulation, gene transcription, and protein expression. To assess the mechanistic bases for these developmental changes, we utilized multiomic single-cell/nucleus RNA sequencing (sc/snRNA-seq) and single-nucleus assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (snATAC-seq) to identify chromatin changes associated with transcription in adult mouse and rat testes. We characterized the relationships between the transcriptomes and chromatin of both species, including the divergent expression of Id4 in spermatogonial stem cells between species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic variation modulates susceptibility to aberrant DNA hypomethylation and imprint deregulation in naive pluripotent stem cells.
Stem Cell Reports
March 2025
Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA. Electronic address:
Naive pluripotent stem cells (nPSCs) frequently undergo pathological loss of DNA methylation at imprinted gene loci, posing a hurdle for biomedical applications and underscoring the need to identify underlying causes. We show that nPSCs from inbred mouse strains exhibit strain-specific susceptibility to locus-specific deregulation of imprinting marks during reprogramming and upon exposure to a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor, a common approach to maintain naive pluripotency. Analysis of genetically diverse nPSCs from the Diversity Outbred (DO) stock confirms the impact of genetic variation on epigenome stability, which we leverage to identify trans-acting quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that modulate DNA methylation levels at specific targets or genome-wide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!