Persistent Patterns

Chemical signals from the womb nurture many of the changes inside a developing embryo. But in their first moments, somehow, these embryonic cells manage to organise themselves. Zooming through this early mouse blastocyst, artificial fluorescence highlights different types of embryonic cells – primitive endoderm cells (PrE, green) and innermost embryonic epiblast cells (EPI, pink). Despite having genetic changes that might upset this blastocyst’s patterning, or morphogenesis, its cells separate into the regions highlighted by each colour. Researchers believe that chemical trails left by early PrEs guide other cells into place. The next job is to test these theories in species with larger embryos, like humans, where the proportion between PrE and EPI cells changes, painting similar patterns in embryos of different shapes and sizes as they prepare for life.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

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A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Video from work by Prachiti Moghe and colleagues
• Hubrecht Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Utrecht, Netherlands; Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature Cell Biology. February 2025