Fundamental principles during the egg-to-embryo transition

Life of sexually reproducing organisms starts with the fusion of two highly specialized cells, the egg and the sperm, which gives rise to a single cell, the zygote. Fertilization initiates the egg-to-embryo transition, one of the most dramatic developmental transition resulting in the transformation of the egg from a dormant state into regulatorily and functionally distinct embryonic cells. While this transition has been studied extensively in respect to zygotic genome activation, the molecular mechanisms that mediate sperm-egg binding and fusion during fertilization and regulate the maintenance of dormancy in the egg and re-activation in the embryo remain poorly understood. The vision of the Pauli lab is to gain mechanistic insights into the egg-to-embryo transition, with a specific focus on the molecular control of fertilization and developmentally programmed dormancy and re-activation.

Andrea (Andi) Pauli will talk about recent findings from her lab related to their work towards uncovering the mechanism of vertebrate fertilization and translational regulation during the egg-to-embryo transition. By combining genetic, molecular, cellular, biochemical, structural and genomics approaches in their main model organism, the zebrafish, the long-term vision of the Pauli lab is to unravel new concepts and molecular mechanisms governing this fascinating developmental transition that marks the beginning of life.