Evolution's egg timer

Well, let's do this, Vincent.

Let's j- let's jump right in.

So today's preprint, uh, is entitled Evolutionary Landscapes of Zygotic Genome Activation Across Animals.

And before we dig in, I wanna give a shout-out here to one of our, um, Tweevo super fans, actually.

This is a fellow called Jamie Gagnon, who is, uh, one of my colleagues and science buddies here at the University of Utah.

Jamie's actually...

So he's one of the best develop- developmental biologists in the game.

If, if we could put together, like, an all-star team-Of scientist Vincent.

[laughs] Jamie would be in my starting lineup.

So Jamie, uh, alerted me to this preprint.

Um, it's an international effort.

We've got folks, um, sprinkled across, across the gr- globe, but with sort of a center of gravity here in Barcelona, Spain.

So, um, some co-first authors.

This is Israel Campo-Bes and Federica Montica, [lips smack] uh, senior author or corresponding author, Manuel, uh, Iri- Iriema.

[drum beat] Sorry, I'm not good at pronouncing people's names.

But so this is, um, the Institute of Medicine in Life Sciences, [lips smack] uh, or Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, um, at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, [lips smack] and then, um, scientists from Austria, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, [drum beat] North Carolina, US, and uh, Scotland to round out the, the group.

Um, and really, as, um, Tom Steinberg was hinting at, really a kind of a Herculean effort here.

Um, and we're picking up on a topic, Vincent, that we haven't covered too much actually on Tuivo over our 125 encounters [laughs] here so far, um, which is, um, the topic of evo devo or evolutionary developmental biology.

[lips smack] Um, and so absolutely very much a classic, um, that connection between dev- developmental biology and evolution.

[sniffs] Um, and so, you know, I'd say most of the action in terms of evo devo usu- in terms of development takes place when the embryo is sort of recognizable as an animal, whether it's a human, a primate or a, um, you know, out to the, [lips smack] um, fruit flies.

Um, and here we're gonna pick it up with the authors, uh, at a very early step, um, after fertilization.

So right after the zygote arrives, this is, you know, the fertilization between the egg and the sperm.

Um, and, uh, moving from a single cell to multiple cells over the first dozen or so, um, divisions, cellular divisions, early, uh, embryogenesis here.

Well, let's do this, Vincent.

Let's j- let's jump right in.

So today's preprint, uh, is entitled Evolutionary Landscapes of Zygotic Genome Activation Across Animals.

And before we dig in, I wanna give a shout-out here to one of our, um, Tweevo super fans, actually.

This is a fellow called Jamie Gagnon, who is, uh, one of my colleagues and science buddies here at the University of Utah.

Jamie's actually...

So he's one of the best develop- developmental biologists in the game.

If, if we could put together, like, an all-star team-Of scientist Vincent.

[laughs] Jamie would be in my starting lineup.

So Jamie, uh, alerted me to this preprint.

Um, it's an international effort.

We've got folks, um, sprinkled across, across the gr- globe, but with sort of a center of gravity here in Barcelona, Spain.

So, um, some co-first authors.

This is Israel Campo-Bes and Federica Montica, [lips smack] uh, senior author or corresponding author, Manuel, uh, Iri- Iriema.

[drum beat] Sorry, I'm not good at pronouncing people's names.

But so this is, um, the Institute of Medicine in Life Sciences, [lips smack] uh, or Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, um, at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, [lips smack] and then, um, scientists from Austria, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, [drum beat] North Carolina, US, and uh, Scotland to round out the, the group.

Um, and really, as, um, Tom Steinberg was hinting at, really a kind of a Herculean effort here.

Um, and we're picking up on a topic, Vincent, that we haven't covered too much actually on Tuivo over our 125 encounters [laughs] here so far, um, which is, um, the topic of evo devo or evolutionary developmental biology.

[lips smack] Um, and so absolutely very much a classic, um, that connection between dev- developmental biology and evolution.

[sniffs] Um, and so, you know, I'd say most of the action in terms of evo devo usu- in terms of development takes place when the embryo is sort of recognizable as an animal, whether it's a human, a primate or a, um, you know, out to the, [lips smack] um, fruit flies.

Um, and here we're gonna pick it up with the authors, uh, at a very early step, um, after fertilization.

So right after the zygote arrives, this is, you know, the fertilization between the egg and the sperm.

Um, and, uh, moving from a single cell to multiple cells over the first dozen or so, um, divisions, cellular divisions, early, uh, embryogenesis here.