Developmental Biology

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Development: Organisms Construct and Organize Themselves on the Basis of Inherited Information....Pages 1-8
Basic Stages, Principles, and Terms of Developmental Biology....Pages 9-20
Model Organisms in Developmental Biology....Pages 21-121
Comparative Review: The Phylotypic Stage of Vertebrates, Common versus Distinct Features, and Aspects of Evolution....Pages 122-136
The Egg Cell and the Sperm Get a Dowry....Pages 137-145
The Start: Fertilization and Activation of the Egg....Pages 146-155
Precisely Patterned Cleavage Divisions Are Driven by an Oscillator....Pages 156-159
Determination: Cells Are Programmed and Committed to Their Fates....Pages 160-164
Epigenetic Pattern Formation: New Patterns Are Created During Development....Pages 165-201
Differentiation Is Based upon Differential Gene Expression that Is Programmed during Determination....Pages 202-221
Cell Differentiation Frequently Is Irreversible and Causes Cell Death; Early Cell Death Can Be Programmed....Pages 222-227
Animal Morphogenesis Is Shaped Actively by Adhesion and Cell Migration....Pages 228-234
Cell Journeys: Even Germ Cells and Cells of the Peripheral Nervous System Originate from Emigrant Precursors....Pages 235-241
Development of the Nervous System: Cell Migration, Pathfinding, and Self-Organization....Pages 242-256
Heart and Blood Vessels: Divergent Developmental Roads but One System in the End....Pages 257-262
Stem Cells Enable Continuous Growth and Renewal....Pages 263-273
Signal Molecules Control Development and Growth....Pages 274-281
Cancer Comes from Disturbed Growth and Differentiation Control....Pages 282-288
Metamorphosis: A “Second Embryogenesis” Creates a Second Phenotype....Pages 289-300
Sex and the Single Gene....Pages 301-309
Regeneration and Renewal versus Loss and Death....Pages 310-322
Life and Death: What Is the Major Mystery?....Pages 323-334
Back Matter....Pages 335-382