Developmental Biology

1. Development: Organisms Construct and Organize Themselves on the Basis of Inherited Information. - 2. Basic Stages Principles and Terms of Developmental Biology. - 3. Model Organisms in Developmental Biology. - 4. Comparative Review: The Phylotypic Stage of Vertebrates Common versus Distinct Features and Aspects of Evolution. - 5. The Egg Cell and the Sperm Get a Dowry. - 6. The Start: Fertilization and Activation of the Egg. - 7. Precisely Patterned Cleavage Divisions Are Driven by an Oscillator. - 8. Determination: Cells Are Programmed and Committed to Their Fates. - 9. Epigenetic Pattern Formation: New Patterns Are Created During Development. - 10. Differentiation Is Based upon Differential Gene Expression that Is Programmed during Determination. - 11. Cell Differentiation Frequently Is Irreversible and Causes Cell Death; Early Cell Death Can Be Programmed. - 12. Animal Morphogenesis Is Shaped Actively by Adhesion and Cell Migration. - 13. Cell Journeys: Even Germ Cells and Cells of the Peripheral Nervous System Originate from Emigrant Precursors. - 14. Development of the Nervous System: Cell Migration Pathfinding and Self-Organization. - 15. Heart and Blood Vessels: Divergent Developmental Roads but One System in the End. - 16. Stem Cells Enable Continuous Growth and Renewal. - 17. Signal Molecules Control Development and Growth. - 18. Cancer Comes from Disturbed Growth and Differentiation Control. - 19. Metamorphosis: A Second Embryogenesis Creates a Second Phenotype. - 20. Sex and the Single Gene. - 21. Regeneration and Renewal versus Loss and Death. - 22. Life and Death: What Is the Major Mystery?. - Boxes. - Box 1 History: From the Soul to Information. - Box 2 Famous Experiments with Eggs and Embryos: Cloning Chimeras Teratomas and Transgenic Mice. - Box 3 The PI Signal Transduction System. - Box 4 Models of Biological Pattern Formation. - Box 5 Signal Molecules Acting through Nuclear Receptors. - Box 6 How Cells Communicate and Interact. - Box 7 Contemporary Techniques in Developmental Biology. Language: English