Developing embryos are metabolically active, open systems that constantly exchange matter and energy with their environment. They function out of thermodynamic equilibrium and continuously use metabolic pathways to obtain energy from maternal nutrients, in order to fulfill the energetic requirements of growth and development. While an increasing number of studies highlight the role of metabolism in different developmental contexts, the physicochemical basis of embryogenesis, or how cellular processes use energy and matter to act together and transform a zygote into an adult organism, remains unknown. As we obtain a better understanding of metabolism, and benefit from current technology development, it is a promising time to revisit the energetic cost of development and how energetic principles may govern embryogenesis. Here, we review recent advances in methodology to measure and infer energetic parameters in developing embryos. We highlight a potential common pattern in embryonic energy expenditure and metabolic strategy across animal embryogenesis, and discuss challenges and open questions in developmental energetics.

发育中的胚胎是新陈代谢活跃的开放系统，不断与环境交换物质和能量。它们在热力学平衡之外发挥作用，不断利用代谢途径从母体营养物质中获取能量，以满足生长发育的能量需求。虽然越来越多的研究强调了新陈代谢在不同发育环境中的作用，但胚胎发生的物理化学基础，或者细胞过程如何利用能量和物质共同作用并将受精卵转化为成体生物体，仍然未知。随着我们对新陈代谢有了更好的了解，并从当前的技术发展中获益，现在是重新审视发育的能量成本以及能量原理如何控制胚胎发生的大好时机。这里，我们回顾了测量和推断胚胎发育中能量参数的方法学的最新进展。我们强调了动物胚胎发生过程中胚胎能量消耗和代谢策略的潜在共同模式，并讨论了发育能量学中的挑战和未解决的问题。