Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is an embryo?
- a developing organism prior to birth or hatching
- in humans, the early stages of development, starting with the fertilized egg until the end of organogenesis (first 8 weeks of gestation)
What is development?
- the process of progressive and continuous change that generates a complex multicellular organism from a single cell
- occurs throughout embryogenesis, maturation to the adult form, and continues into senescence
What is a zygote?
- a fertilized egg with a diploid chromosomal complement in its zygote nucleus generates by the fusion of the haploid male and female pronuclei
What is embryology?
- the study of animal development from fertilization to hatching or birth
What is indeterminate growth?
- growth that is not halted, as opposed to determinate growth, which stops once a structure reaches a genetically predetermined size
- unlike animals, plants can have indeterminate growth
What is metamorphosis?
- changing from one form to another, such as the transformation of an insect larva to a sexually mature adult or a tadpole to a frog
What is oviparity?
- young hatch from eggs ejected by the mother, as in birds, amphibians, and most invertebrates
What is viviparity?
- young are nourished in and born from the mother’s body rather than hatched from an egg, as in placental mammals
What is ovoviviparity?
- young hatch from eggs held within the mother’s body where they continue to develop for a period of time, as in certain reptiles and sharks
What is the holoblastic form of cleavage?
- from the Greek holos, “complete”
- refers to a cell division pattern in the embryo in which the entire egg is divided into smaller cells, as it is in echinoderms, amphibians, and mammals
What is the meroblastic form of cleavage?
- from the Greek meros, “part”
- refers to a cell division pattern in zygotes containing large amounts of yolk, wherein only a portion of the cytoplasm is cleaved
- only part of the egg is destined to become the embryo, while the yolky portion serves as nutrition for the embryo, as in insects, fish, reptiles, and birds
Why does the cleavage furrow not penetrate the yolky portion of the cytoplasm in meroblastic cleavage?
- the yolk platelets impede membrane formation
What is differentiation?
- the process by which an unspecialized cell becomes specialized into one of the many cell types that make up the body
What is morphogenesis?
- the organization of the cells of the body into functional structures via coordinated cell growth, cell migration, and cell death
What is a stem cell?
- a relatively undifferentiated cell from the embryo, fetus, or adult that divides
- when it divides, it produces one cell that retains its undifferentiated character and remains in the stem cell niche and a second cell that leaves the niche and can undergo one or more paths of differentiation
What is embryogenesis?
- the stages of development between fertilization and hatching (or birth)
What is fertilization?
- the fusion of male and female gametes followed by the fusion of the haploid gamete nuclei to restore the full complement of chromosomes characteristic of the species
- initiation in the egg cytoplasm of those reactions that permit development to proceed
What is a gamete?
- a specialized reproductive cell through which sexually reproducing parents pass chromosomes to their offspring
- an egg or a sperm
What are pronuclei?
- the male and female haploid nuclei within a fertilized egg that fuse to form the diploid nucleus of the zygote
What is a genome?
- the complete DNA sequence of an individual organism
What is cleavage?
- a series of rapid mitotic cell divisions following fertilization in many early embryos
- divides the embryo without increasing its mass
What is a blastomere?
- a cleavage-stage cell resulting from mitosis
What is a blastula?
- an early-stage embryo consisting of a sphere of cells surrounding an inner fluid-filled cavity, the blastocoel
What is gastrulation?
- the process involving movement of the blastomeres of the embryo relative to one another resulting in the formation of the three germ layers of the embryo
What is the gastrula stage?
- a stage of the embryo following gastrulation that contains the three germ layers that will interact to generate the organs of the body
What are germ layers?
- layers generated by the process of gastrulation that will form all of the tissues of the body, with the exception of the germ cells
What are the three germ layers in triploblastic organisms?
- ectoderm
- mesoderm
- endoderm
What are the two germ layers in diploblastic organisms?
- ectoderm
- endoderm
What is organogenesis?
- interactions between, and rearrangement of, cells of the three germ layers to produce tissues and organs
What is a larva?
- the sexually immature stage of an organism
- often of significantly different appearance than the adult
- frequently the stage that lives the longest and is used for feeding or dispersal
What are germ cells?
- a group of cells set aside for reproductive function
- become the cells of the gonads (ovary and testis) that undergo meiotic cell divisions to generate the gametes
What are somatic cells?
- cells that make up the body
- all cells in the organism that are not germ cells
What is gametogenesis?
- the production/development of gametes
What is the sporophytic stage?
- the diploid growth stage in the alternating life cycle of plants and algae
What is the gametophytic stage?
- the haploid stage of the alternating life cycle in plants and algae that produce gametes (eggs and sperm)
- the sexual phase
What is the blastopore?
- the invagination point where gastrulation begins
- in deuterostomes, this marks the site of the anus
- in protostomes, this marks the site of the mouth
What is the neurula?
- refers to the embryo during neurulation
What is the neural tube?
- the embryonic precursor to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord)
What are somites?
- segmental blocks of mesoderm formed from paraxial mesoderm adjacent to the notochord (the axial mesoderm)
What is meiosis?
- a unique division process that in animals occurs only in germ cells, to reduce the number of chromosomes to a haploid complement
How is meiosis different from mitosis?
- cells undergo two cell divisions without an intervening period of DNA replication
- homologous chromosomes (each consisting of two sister chromatids joined at a kinetochore) pair together and recombine genetic material
What are cotyledons?
- the embryonic leaves contained within the seed of a plant, which provide nutrients that support embryogenesis and germination of the seedling
- during germination, they emerge from the seed before true leaves are formed
What is the root apical meristem? (RAM)
- in plants, the meristem at the tip of a growing root
What is the shoot apical meristem? (SAM)
- in plants, the meristem at the tip of a growing shoot that is the source of stem cells for all plant organs above ground, such as leaves and flowers
What is dermal tissue?
- in animals, the tissue (the dermis) that underlies the epidermis; together, they make up the skin
- in plants, the tissue that makes up the outer layer (the epidermis) of the plant; epidermal cells and guard cells that surround stomata are cell types found in this
What is vascular tissue?
- the conducting tissue in plants that transports fluids and nutrients
- major components are the xylem and phloem