The mouse is not enough

Traditionally studied lab mice may not be the best model for understanding early embryonic development, according to new linkurl:research;http://www.cell.com/developmental-cell/abstract/S1534-5807(11)00004-9 published today (February 14) in Developmental Cell.Specifically, the mechanism of cell commitment in early embryos differs between mice and cows, suggesting that development in mice may not be representative of development in other mammals, including humans.This research suggests "that the mouse alone is not the ideal model if you want to study mammalian embryogenesis," said linkurl:Michael Bader,;http://bcrt.charite.de/index.php?id=47 a cardiovascular biologist who works on rat embryogenesis at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin and was not involved in the research.

Mouse blastocyst, with the trophectoderm labelled "T" and inner cell mass labelled "I" Image: Wikimedia commons, User: Ecto

"The author should be really commended for dissecting the process of differentiation in the bovine embryo," added linkurl:Mylene Yao,;http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Mylene_Yao/ a fertility specialist who studies early mammalian development at Stanford University,...