BIOL 346
Developmental Biology Course Page
Course Description: This course will give you some basic understanding about the morphological changes that occur during the development of select animals, as well as the underlying molecular events that produce those morphological changes.
Learning Outcomes: When you have completed this course you will be able to describe, compare, and contrast the events of early development and morphogenesis in some animals. You will be able to give the details of the molecular mechanisms of cell-cell, cell-matrix, and tissue interactions during development. You will be able to explain how the common genetic makeup shared by all cells comprising an organism can be regulated to produce a large variety of cell types, and you will be able to explain how changes in developmental programs result in evolutionary change at the gross morphological level.
History
Techniques
Cell Communication
Differential Gene Expression
Gametogenesis
Fertilization
Cleavage
Gastrulation
Slides
reading 1, reading 2 , reading 3
Extraembryonic Membranes
Slides
reading
Patterning
Slides
reading
Germ Layer Derivatives
Slides Ectoderm Mesoderm+Endoderm
Tetrapod Limb Development
Slides
reading 1, Example of a human with an extra limb, possibly due to a split limb field reading 2
Medical Implications of Developmental Biology
Slides 1 Slides2
Endocrine disruptors reading 1
Bisphenol A reading 2
Therapeutic cloning reading 3
Induced pluripotent stem cells reading 4
Evo-Devo
Slides
What is evo-devo? reading 1 , reading 2 , reading 3
Be careful in your reading, if you search for macroevolutionary change. "Macroevolution" is one of the buzzwords used by creationists and searching for this term brings up many creationist websites (e.g. talkorigins and icr=institute for creation research)
Movies, Animations and Lab Resources:
RU Nijmegen embryology web portal
Sea urchin development - click here and here and here
Frog development - click here, here, here, and here
Zebrafish development - click here
Chick primitive streak and gastrulation - click here, here Chick development here