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Comment
. 2017 Mar 28:6:e26260.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.26260.

A developmental insurance policy

Nestor Saiz  1 , Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis  1
Affiliations
Comment

A developmental insurance policy

Nestor Saiz et al. Elife. .

Abstract

Why does a totipotent state linger within the inner cell mass of mouse embryos?

Keywords: cell fate; cell plasticity; developmental biology; inner cell mass; mouse; preimplantation; stem cells; trophectoderm.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Cell differentiation in mammalian embryos.
Cells that develop into the trophectoderm (TE) express the transcription factor CDX2 (denoted here as CDX2+) and commit to their cell fate at around the 32-cell stage. Cells that will develop into the inner cell mass (ICM) keep their options open and only commit to their cell fate at a time between the 32- and 64-cell stage; these cells do not express CDX2 (denoted here as CDX2-). As embryos grow from the 32- to the 64-cell stage, ICM cells start to differentiate into two new cell lineages: the embryonic epiblast (future fetus) and the extra-embryonic primitive endoderm (future yolk sac).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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