Developmental Biology

Contents: Preface. 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? Bibliography. Index. Boxes.

"Developmental Biology has been revolutionized by the flood of methods and insights from molecular biology and genetics, as well as experienced a resurgence of interest in developmental pathways and fields. This concise, readable, and splendidly illustrated textbook describes the organizational, cellular, biochemical, and molecular processes by which a fertilized egg is transformed into an adult animal. The book is noteworthy for its treatment of development in model organisms, whose contributions to modern biology were recognized in the 1995 Nobel prize in physiology and medicine. The reader will also find overviews of major themes such as fertilization, developmental genetics, and sexual development. An outstanding feature of Developmental Biology is a wealth of exceptionally clear and vivid illustrations that complement the text, resulting in a succinct yet fully up-to-date treatment of this rapidly changing field."