Early mouse development

 

Mammalian development starts with a period when embryo evolves freely within the maternal reproductive tracts to reach its final destination, the uterus, where it will implant into the uterine wall. During this journey (4 days in mouse), several critical events will happen such as parental genome reprogramming, zygotic genome activation, polarity acquisition… This period is also allocated to the preparation of the embryo for implantation with the specification and segregation of embryonic and extraembryonic cell lineages. At the end of the preimplantation period, the blastocyst comprises three molecularly and spatially distinct cell lineages. The trophectoderm (TE), a single epithelial layer encapsulating the blastocoel cavity and an inner cell mass (ICM) composed of the pluripotent epiblast (EPI) and an epithelial layer of primitive endoderm (PrE) in contact to the cavity. EPI will essentially contribute to the embryo proper while TE will contribute to the fetal portion of the placenta and PrE to the yolks sac layers as well as part of the endoderm of the fetus.

Our lab is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms driving the divergence between EPI and PrE cell fates within the ICM with a particular emphasis on the role of signalling molecules and key-lineage transcription factors. To dissect these processes, we are combining live imaging tools to genetic and pharmacological approaches both in vivo and in stem cell lines representative to these lineages.

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