Cell fate determination

Within the field of developmental biology, one goal is to understand how a particular cell develops into a specific cell type, known as fate determination. In an embryo, several processes play out at a molecular level to create an organism. These processes include cell proliferation, differentiation, cellular movement and programmed cell death. Each cell in an embryo receives molecular signals from neighboring cells in the form of proteins, RNAs and even surface interactions. Almost all animals undergo a similar sequence of events during very early development, a conserved process known as embryogenesis. During embryogenesis, cells exist in three germ layers, and undergo gastrulation. While embryogenesis has been studied for more than a century, it was only recently (the past 25 years or so) that scientists discovered that a basic set of the same proteins and mRNAs are involved in embryogenesis. Evolutionary conservation is one of the reasons that model organisms such as the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) or the house mouse (Mus musculus) are used to study embryogenesis and developmental biology. Studying model organisms provides information relevant to other animals, including humans. While studying different model systems, cell fate was discovered to be determined via multiple mechanisms, two of which include combinations of transcription factors and cell-cell interactions. Fate determination mechanisms were categorized into three different types, autonomous specification, conditional specification, and syncytial specification. Research in cell fate determination was done primarily via two types of experiments, known as ablation and transplantation. The findings of these experiments contributed to uncovering the fate of studied cells.