Vertebrates

Question 1

what is developmental biology?

Answer 1

the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop, it involves the study of tissue homeostasis is adulthood

Question 2

what are stem cells?

Answer 2

cells found in the embryo and adults that produce progeny (offspring), stem cells are studied in vitro to aid in regenerative medicine

Question 3

what is regenerative biology?

Answer 3

the study of the innate ability of organisms to replace tissues or organs after they have been removed or damaged

Question 4

what is meant by cell ‘fate’?

Answer 4

cells have a fate, this means the thing that it is destined to become after differentiation e.g. a cell can be fated to be a muscle cell

Question 5

what determines a cell’s fate?

Answer 5

their location within a mass of cells after fertilisation and proliferation

Question 6

what is the lineage tracing technique in cell fate maps?

Answer 6

cells are named according to their position and injected with coloured dyes, they are left for a few days and then analysed to identify which cells move where

Question 7

what does it mean if a cell is committed to its fate?

Answer 7

it will give rise to the same cell type no matter where it is located
its fate is determined by intrinsic factors such as transcription factor

Question 8

what does it mean if a cell’s fate is changeable?

Answer 8

it will give rise to a different cell type if it changes position
it can be reprogrammed and is controlled by signals that tell it to move locations

Question 9

what is an ectopic signalling source?

Answer 9

a cell that induces the fate of other cells by releasing signals

Question 10

what is experimental embryology?

Answer 10

experiments that involve the physical manipulation of the embryo

Question 11

what are competent or receptive cells?

Answer 11

cells that express a specific receptor that receives a signal from another cell

Question 12

what are permissive signals?

Answer 12

signals that allow or block cells from responding to other signals

Question 13

what are chemo attractants?

Answer 13

signals that attract or repulse cells during migration

Question 14

what are patterning cells?

Answer 14

identical cells that adopt different cell fates when stimulated by a signal

Question 15

how is RNA in situ hybridisation used to analyse gene expression?

Answer 15

stains cells blue/purple to show if they express the RNA for a certain gene

Question 16

how are antibodies used to analyse gene expression?

Answer 16

uses antibodies to detect where specific proteins are expressed in a cell and where they are located

Question 17

what are the advantages and disadvantages of using zebra fish models?

Answer 17

advantages: vertebrate, large batches of embryos, relatively transparent, external fertilisation
disadvantages: complex genome with gene duplication, not inbred so high variation

Question 18

what are the advantages and disadvantages of using mice models?

Answer 18

advantages: mammal, rapid generation time (8 weeks), inbred strains so low variability
disadvantages: internal embryos so poor access, small batches of embryos, expensive, ethical issues

Question 19

what are the advantages and disadvantages of using frog models?

Answer 19

advantages: external fertilisation, large batches of embryos, large embryos and cells
disadvantages: long generation time (1+ year), yolky embryo so not transparent

Question 20

what are the advantages and disadvantages of using chick models?

Answer 20

advantages: big embryo, tetrapod
disadvantages: not accessible early, limited genetics