Cavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...

The kinetochore--the molecular machine that couples chromosomes to spindle microtubules--performs an essential, tightly regulated function, yet varies dramatically across eukaryotes. Microtubules are ...

Li et al. obtain high-resolution, native structures revealing that cytoplasmic lattices in mammalian eggs organize and store degradative and cytoskeletal complexes for early embryonic development.

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Misregulation of chromosome cohesion during female meiosis serves as a reproductive isolating barrier in mice.

To study pathways that lead to aneuploidy during aging, the authors provide a system that enables cohesion protein depletion in mouse oocytes, mimicking effects that occur during aging. They uncover a...

Female reproductive aging is accompanied by a dramatic rise in the incidence of egg aneuploidy. Premature loss of chromosome cohesion proteins and untimely separation of chromosomes is thought to unde...

imageimageHow the condensin complex is recruited to genomic domains to promote their condensation is incompletely understood. This study identifies a generalised molecular mechanism by which condensin...

Nature Communications - Chromosome segregation errors are common in the early stages of human embryonic development. By examining the first mitotic divisions of human embryos using live cell...