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?

Der Autor Werner A. Müller ist Professor für Biowissenschaften an der Uni Heidelberg. Er schreibt nicht nur wissenschaftliche Lehrbücher, sondern auch Geschichten, die Kindern und Jugendlichen in vergnüglicher Weise Wissenswertes vermitteln.