title: The maternal-to-zygotic transition in embryonic patterning of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Maternal factors laid down in the oocyte regulate blastomere identities in the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo by activating zygotic patterning genes and restricting their expression to the appropriate lineages. A number of early-acting zygotic genes that specify various cell fates have been identified recently and their temporal and spatial regulation by maternal factors has begun to be elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California-Santa Barbara 93106, USA. newman@lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Newman-Smith
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Rothman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D004707:Endoderm; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D015398:Signal Transduction; D015053:Zygote