2–4-h-old wild-type and akt⁰⁴²²⁶ embryos were fixed and stained for DNA and α-tubulin and the relative stage of development was assessed. Approximately half (53%) of wild-type embryos had undergone gastrulation, whereas the remaining embryos were either cellularized, undergoing gastrulation (27%), or had yet to cellularize (17%). The remaining 3% of embryos were empty of nuclei or MTs and appeared to be unfertilized. In contrast, only 21% of akt embryos appeared to have competed gastrulation.