In higher vertebrates, the position of the embryonic axis (the location at which gastrulation starts) is determined by the transcription factor Pitx2, which suggests that the mechanisms of this process, and hence those that regulate twinning, are related to those that set up the left–right axis.

Maternal Gdf3 and Nodal are interdependent obligatory cofactors in the fundamental patterning of the vertebrate embryonic axis of zebrafish.

Expression of Pitx2c at the onset of gastrulation drives convergence and extension movements in the zebrafish embryo by promoting downstream pathways affecting chemokine signaling, integrin-ECM interactions, and planar cell polarity components.

Isoform-specific transcript localization underlies the evolutionary diversity of anterior axis determinants in embryos of dipteran insects.

Elongation of C. elegans embryos requires stiffness and force to be specifically oriented in a coordinated manner in different cells.

Post-implantation epiblast maturation and patterning of anterior-posterior axis in mouse embryonic development are mediated by pluripotency transcription factor Zfp281 through transcriptional and epigenetic control of Nodal signaling.

Precise dosage of the imprinted H19 and Igf2 genes is critical for normal embryonic development, especially related to the cardiac-placental axis.

Cells know when to contribute to the maturing embryonic body axis by adjusting an internal timer to the conditions around them.

The collinear activation of a subset of posterior Hox genes is responsible for establishing a Wnt/T activity gradient that is required to generate the complete body axis, and hence the full set of segments within a vertebrate embryo.

Calcium imaging reveals spatiotemporal properties of correlated spontaneous activity in the embryonic retina and implicates a role for electrical and chemical synapses in generating the activity.