Stepping on embryos can activate genes

2003/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Genetika

Treading or pulling an embryo can influence its growth. This is what French researcher Emmanuel Farge has discovered in his research with Drosophila. The researcher picked up a three-hour Drosophila embryo and stepped on a little. Consequently, on the surface of the embryo, a gene that is normally activated within the embryo was activated.

Therefore, it seems that embryos can be mechanically reprogrammed at the beginning of their life. It is not clear how to step on embryos so that gene expression is desired, but to think that embryos contain pressure-sensitive proteins is very interesting for future research.