From Egg to Embryo
Regional Specification in Early Development

Describes our understanding of early animal development and explains how the body plan of an embryo emerges from the newly fertilised egg.

J. M. W. Slack (Author)

9780521409438, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 May 1991

352 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.575 kg

"...a singular and critical exploration of a central development problem, uncluttered by superfluous detail and, apart from the occasional bias, rigorous in evaluation of the evidence. The unpatronizing, bossy style draws the reader into the problem and it is one of those unusual science books that one can actually read rather han refer to." Rosa Beddington, Trends in Genetics

The last ten years have shown a dramatic revolution in our understanding of early animal development. This new edition of the successful first edition describes the result of this revolution and explains how the body plan of an embryo emerges from the newly fertilised egg. The book starts with a critical discussion of embryological concepts and explains in simple terms the mathematics of cell states, morphogen gradients and threshold responses. The experimental evidence on the mechanism of regional specification in Xenopus, molluscs, annelids, ascidians as well as Caenorhabditis, the mouse, the chick and Drosophila is then discussed. The whole chapter devoted to the exciting developments in Drosophila provides a clear guide to the subject, including a new table outlining the developmentally important genes. The emphasis throughout is on conceptual clarity and unity: bringing together the mathematical models, embryological experiments and molecular biology into a single, comprehensive coherent account.

Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
1. Regional specification in animal development
2. The concepts of experimental embryology
3. Theoretical embryology
4. Hierarchies of developmental decisions
5. Development with a small cell number
6. Models for man: the mouse and the chick
7. The breakthrough
8. What does it all mean?
Appendix: How to write a program for development
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Cellular biology [cytology PSF], Developmental biology [PSC]