Home > Developmental biology
EmbryologyDevelopmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Originating in embryology, today developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and " morphogenesis," which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy. The related field of evolutionary developmental biology was formed largely in the 1990s and is a synthesis of findings from molecular developmental biology and evolutionary biology which considers the diversity of organismal form in an evolutionary context.
Often used model organisms for developmental biology are the round worm Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the zebrafish Brachydanio rerio, the mouseFor the computer peripheral, see computer mouse. A mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents in the genus Mus and various related genera of the family Muridae. Mus musculus, the common house mouse (or laboratory mouse) is Mus musculus, and the weed Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thaliana or Thale Cress, a small flowering plant related to cabbage and mustard, is one of the model organisms for studying plant sciences, including genetics and plant development. Similarly as mouse and fruit fly Drosophila are used as model.
The findings of developmental biology can help to understand (or some day, cure) developmental malfunctions such as chromosomal aberration, for example, Down syndromeDown syndrome (also called Down's syndrome encompasses a number of genetic disorders, of which trisomy 21 (a nondisjunction) is the most representative, causing highly variable degrees of learning difficulties and physical disabilities. This genetic disor. An understanding of the specialization of stem cellUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison. Stem cells are primal, undifferentiated cells which have the potential to produce any kind of cell in the body. Medical researchers believe stem cells have the potential to change the face of human disease by being used tos to specific tissues and organs could lead to the specific cloningCloning is the process of creating an identical copy of an original. A clone in the biological sense, therefore, is a multi-cellular organism that is genetically identical to another living organism. Sometimes this can refer to "natural" clones made eithe of organs for medical purposes.
1 Molecular mechanisms of development
During the second half of the 20th century the types of molecules involved in embryonic development were identified. Transcription factorIn molecular biology, a transcription factor is a protein that binds DNA at a specific promoter or enhancer region or site, where it regulates transcription. Transcription factors can be selectively activated or deactivated by other proteins, often as thes are the key regulators of which geneDNA and to a chromosome (right). Introns are regions often found in eukaryote genes which are removed in the splicing process: only the exons encode the protein. This diagram labels a region of only 40 or so bases as a gene. In reality many genes are muchs are expressed in cells. Transcriptional control in the various differentiated cell types allows each type of cell (epithelial, muscle, neuron, etc) to express different amounts of the possible proteins. The transcription factors are regulated by signal transduction pathways that relay signals from outside of cells to the cell nucleus. Signal transduction pathways often involve receptors, receptor ligands and enzymes such as protein kinases. One key class of genes that are differentially regulated by transcription factors in different cell types are genes for cell adhesion proteins. Cell adhesion proteins are among the key regulators of morphogenesis.
- Concepts in developmental biology
- allantois, amnion, blastocyst, blastomere, blastula, blastulation , chorion, chrysalis, cleavage, ectoderm, embryo, embryogenesis, embryogeny , embryology, endoderm, evocation, extra-embryonic membrane , fetus(or foetus), gastrula, gastrulation, germ layer, germ plasm , germ, germination, induction , juvenile, larva, maternal effect, mesoderm, metamorphosis, morphogenesis, morula, neoteny, neural development, nymph, ontogeny, oosperm , ovism , paedogenesis, pangenesis, phylogeny, primordium , pupa, rudiment , teratology, zygote
