Neural Induction Flashcards
What characteristics of zebrafish make it a good model organism for studying developmental biology?
- genetics are easy to modify
- transparent while they develop, so they are easy to image
What characteristics of C. elegans make it a good model organism for studying developmental biology?
- simple and well-understood
- well-characterized nervous system
- transparent while they develop, useful for imaging
- short life cycle which makes them easy to manipulate genetically
Why are mice used as a common model organism in developmental biology?
- closely related to humans
- good models for disease
- easy to perform behavioural experiments on them
Why are Xenopus laevis commonly used to study developmental biology?
- easy to find in the wild
- easy to get gametes from and easy gametes to grow in a dish
- have large eggs - optimal for injection and heal quickly
- eggs develop externally - easy to harvest
In the blastula stage, why are the cells at the animal pole smaller than the cells at the vegetal pole?
Animal pole cells have been cleaved more times
There is very little transcription of different genes in the xenopus embryo until this developmental stage
The mid blastula stage
Describe the cleavage of the cells of the xenopus blastula
Rapid synchronous cleavage which happens radially
The blastocoel appears at this stage in embryonic development
Blastula stage
What is specified by the end of the late blastula stage?
3 germ layers
At the end of the late blastula stage, what are the 3 groups of cells present, and what are their cell fates?
- animal cap cells > ectoderm
- marginal cells > mesoderm
- vegetal cells > endoderm
What is a key difference in the early development of xenopus and humans?
Humans have equivalent structures to amphibians, but we have a flat sheet of cells as opposed to a sphere of cells
Which population of cells slides under the dorsal lip during the cellular reorganization of gastrulation?
Animal cells
Why is the generation of asymmetry relevant at the blastula stage?
Generation of asymmetry is the basis of later cellular fate determination
The ectoderm later goes on to become these 2 important systems
Epidermis
CNS
What is the ultimate cell fate of the cells which make up the blastula mesoderm?
Will become muscle and blood cells, among other “middle body” cells
What is the ultimate cell fate of the cells which make up the blastula endoderm?
Cells of the gut
Describe neurulation
A flat sheet of neural tissue-destined cells fold into the neural tube to establish what will later be the notochord
At what stage is the anterior posterior axis established?
Gastrulation
The neural plate stages coincides with this embryonic phase
Late gastrulation
Which stages follows gastrulation?
Neurula stage
At what stage does the neural-fated tissue go underneath epidermal-fated tissue?
Neurula stage (after neural tube formation)
Formation of the neural tube is driven by changes in…
Planar cell polarity
What is the medial hinge point (MHP)?
The hinge point at which the neural plate folds during formation of the neural tube
Spina bifida is usually a condition associated with improper…
Neural tube closure
How is folic acid thought to be involved in spina bifida?
A lack of dietary folic acid may result in downstream misregulation of factors which are regulated by folic acid, and which are involved in neural tube closure
After the neural tube closes, cells of the neural crest…
Delaminate from the dorsal neural tube and migrate elsewhere
Neural crest cells eventually give rise to…
The peripheral nervous system (sensory nerves and ganglia)
Neural crest cells also give rise to…
Bone, pigment cells, cartilage, connective tissue, endocrine cells
Why are cells of the neural crest sometimes referred to as the “4th germ layer”?
Even though the cells give rise to neural tissue, they also give rise to a range of other tissue types
What kinds of animals have neural crest cells?
Vertebrates