title: New insights into the maternal to zygotic transition.
abstract: The initial phases of embryonic development occur in the absence of de novo transcription and are instead controlled by maternally inherited mRNAs and proteins. During this initial period, cell cycles are synchronous and lack gap phases. Following this period of transcriptional silence, zygotic transcription begins, the maternal influence on development starts to decrease, and dramatic changes to the cell cycle take place. Here, we discuss recent work that is shedding light on the maternal to zygotic transition and the interrelated but distinct mechanisms regulating the onset of zygotic transcription and changes to the cell cycle during early embryonic development.
authors.affiliation: MRC National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK.
authors.forename: Alexander R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Langley
authors.affiliation: MRC National Institute for Medical Research, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
authors.forename: Derek L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Stemple
authors.affiliation: The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK steve.harvey@sanger.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002453:Cell Cycle; D004261:DNA Replication; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D005775:Gastrula / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009035:Mothers; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology; D015053:Zygote / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cell cycle; Embryonic development; Gap phases