Small Beginnings

Newborn babies may seem tiny, but even they are giants compared to how they started. It’s sometimes hard to believe that every single one of us began life as a tiny ball of cells less than a hair’s width across. The two mouse embryos pictured are made up of just a few dozen cells (nuclei and membranes stained blue and green, respectively). But they contain all the necessary instructions to make a baby mouse. Every day the cells divide and the embryos grow into something a little more complex. Scientists have taken this detailed snapshot of their growth using fluorescent probes and a powerful microscope. The red specks on the right hand embryo show the locations of a protein called VCL. Lots of cell proteins and signals can be mapped in this way, which can help us understand more about how embryos grow.

Written by Emma Stoye

Emma Stoye

Writer

Cambridge-based Emma works for Research SEA and Asia Research News. She has a degree in biological sciences from Oxford University, and has written, edited and produced material for the Naked Scientists radio show.

• Toshihiro Konno
• The University of Tokyo
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license
• Published in PLoS ONE 7(11): e48933