C. elegans embryos: control vs. mes-2 mutant

Transcriptional profiling of early C. elegans embryos comparing control (N2) embryos with mes-2 mutant embryos at different developmental stages: 2E (24-40 cells), 4E (50-90 cells) and 8E stage (100-200 cells). Goal was to determine the effects of mes-2 loss on global gene expression as embryos transit from a developmentally plastic state (2E stage) to the onset of differentiation (8E stage). Our microarray data showed that early-expressed genes remain active, differentiation genes fail to reach wild-type levels in mes-2 mutant embryos at the 8E stage.