Developmental Biology

-Development: organisms construct and organize themselves on the basis of inherited information. -Basic stages, principles and terms of developmental biology. -Model organisms in developmental biology. -Comparative review: the phylotypic stage of vertebrates, common vs. disuniting features, and aspects of evolution. -The egg cell and sperm get a dowry. -The start: fertilization and activation of the egg. -Precisely patterned cleavage divisions are driven by an oscillator. -Determination: cells are programmed and committed to their fates. -Epigenetic pattern formation. -Differentiation is based upon differential gene expression that is programmed during determination. -Cell differentiation is frequently irreversible and causes cell death; early cell death can be programmed. -Animal morphogenesis is actively shaped by adhesion and cell migration. -Cell journeys: even germ cells and cells of the peripheral nervous system originate from emigrant precursors. -Development of the nervous system: cell migration pathfinding and self-organization. -Heart and blood vessels: divergent developmental roads but one system in the end. -Stem cells enable continuous growth and renewal. -Signal molecules control development and growth. -Cancer comes from disturbed growth and differentiation control. -Metamorphosis: a "second embryogenesis" creates a second phenotype. - Sex and the single gene. -Regeneration and renewal vs. loss and death. -Life and death: what is the major mystery?