GoKawiilBefore an embryo can use its own genes, it relies on materials that have been packed into the egg. This is a precarious phase. In mammals, the fertilized egg divides several times before activating its own genome, meaning that early development depends almost entirely on preloaded proteins and RNA molecules. Many of these materials do not float freely inside the cell but are instead held by lattice-like structures that can be seen using an electron microscope. Although these scaffolding complexes, referred to as cytoplasmic lattices (CPLs), were discovered nearly 60 years ago1, the details of their structure have been a mystery. Writing in Nature, Liu et al.2, Chi et al.3 and Kılıç et al.4 present the 3D structure of CPLs, revealing that they are ordered protein assemblies rather than disorganized tangles of macromolecules.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01414-x
References Weakley, B. S. Z. Zellforsch. Mikrosk. Anat. 85, 109–123 (1967). Liu, S. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10360-7 (2026). Chi, P. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10442-6 (2026). Kılıç, Z. I. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10513-8 (2026). Jentoft, I. M. A. et al. Cell 186, 5308–5327 (2023). Jentoft, I. M. A. & Schuh, M. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 41, 15–43 (2025). Chi, P. et al. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. 31, 1798–1807 (2024). Harasimov, K. et al. Nature Cell Biol. 26, 1124–1138 (2024). Download references
Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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