Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Frankenberg, Stephen R.
• de Barros, Flavia R.O.
• Rossant, Janet
• Renfree, Marilyn B.

Titel

The mammalian blastocyst

Ist Teil von

• Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Developmental biology, 2016-03, Vol.5 (2), p.210-232

Ort / Verlag

Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2016

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The blastocyst is a mammalian invention that carries the embryo from cleavage to gastrulation. For such a simple structure, it exhibits remarkable diversity in its mode of formation, morphology, longevity, and intimacy with the uterine endometrium. This review explores this diversity in the light of the evolution of viviparity, comparing the three main groups of mammals: monotremes, marsupials, and eutherians. The principal drivers in blastocyst evolution were loss of yolk coupled with evolution of the placenta. An important outcome of blastocyst development is differentiation of two extraembryonic lineages (trophoblast and hypoblast) that contribute to the placenta. While in many species trophoblast segregation is often coupled with blastocyst formation, in marsupials and at least some Afrotherians, these events do not coincide. Thus, many questions regarding the conservation of molecular mechanisms controlling these events are of great interest but currently unresolved. WIREs Dev Biol 2016, 5:210–232. doi: 10.1002/wdev.220 This article is categorized under: Early Embryonic Development > Fertilization to Gastrulation Comparative Development and Evolution > Model Systems Comparative Development and Evolution > Evolutionary Novelties