The Maternal to Zygotic Transition in Animals and Plants
- *Institute of Plant Biology & Zürich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zürich, CH-8008 Zürich, Switzerland;
- ‡IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR 5096, BP 56501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France;
- §Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
- Correspondence: grossnik{at}botinst.unizh.ch
Abstract
In the animal kingdom, maternal control of early development is a common feature. The onset of zygotic control over early development, defined as the maternal to zygotic transition (MZT), follows fertilization with a delay of a variable number of cell divisions, depending on the species. The MZT has been well defined in animals, but investigations remain in their infancy in plants. Recent evidence suggests, however, that in plants as in animals, the MZT also occurs several division cycles after fertilization. The likely convergent evolution of the MZT in the animal and plant kingdoms is fascinating and raises major questions regarding its biological significance, particularly with regard to its importance in genome reprogramming and the acquisition of totipotency by the embryo.
Footnotes
-
↵† These authors contributed equally to this work.
- Copyright © 2008, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
