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Oct-3 is a POU domain transcription factor that binds the octamer DNA motif and is present in mouse oocytes before and after fertilization. When fertilized oocytes were injected with antisense Oct-3 oligonucleotides or double-stranded DNA containing the octamer motif, embryonic DNA synthesis was inhibited and the embryos were arrested at the one-cell stage. In vitro synthesized Oct-3 mRNA rescued the developmental block induced by antisense Oct-3 oligonucleotide. We conclude that maternally inherited Oct-3 is required for DNA replication and division of the one-cell embryo.

preformationist chains. As the book describes, these philosophical arguments continued with the more well-known debates in developmental biology at the turn of this century-namely wholism, vitalism, and epigenesis. Thus, this is a very illuminating book for all developmental biologists. It reminds us that regeneration studies were for two hundred years the driving force in developmental biology, and the famous experiments of Roux, Dreisch, and Spemann were not performed independently but were seen as “regeneration” experiments. Indeed, all the concepts currently used in development, such as polarity, concentration gradients, thresholds, etc., arose from regeneration studies. Let us hope that the two fields will in the future become equal partners again and books such as Dinsmore’s may play some part in that.