Tag Archives: oscillating pattern

Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps ‘Clock’ Running in Earliest Stages of Life

COLUMBUS, Ohio – New research shows that a tiny piece of RNA has an essential role in ensuring that embryonic tissue segments form properly.

The study, conducted in chicken embryos, determined that this piece of RNA regulates cyclical gene activity that defines the timing of the formation of tissue segments that later become muscle and vertebrae.

Genes involved in this activity are turned on and off in an oscillating pattern that matches the formation of each tissue segment. If the timing of these genes’ activity doesn’t remain tightly regulated, the tissue either won’t form at all or will form with defects. (more…)

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How Do Cells Tell Time? Scientists Develop Single-Cell Imaging to Watch the Cell Clock

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new way to visualize single-cell activity in living zebrafish embryos has allowed scientists to clarify how cells line up in the right place at the right time to receive signals about the next phase of their life.

Scientists developed the imaging tool in single living cells by fusing a protein defining the cells’ cyclical behavior to a yellow fluorescent protein that allows for visualization. Zebrafish embryos are already transparent, but with this closer microscopic look at the earliest stages of life, the researchers have answered two long-standing questions about how cells cooperate to form embryonic segments that later become muscle and vertebrae. (more…)

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