516-302 Developmental Biology

Note

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Anatomy and Cell Biology 516-201 or Biochemistry 521-211/212 (Prior to 1997: 521-201) or Cell Biology 606-206 (or 606-216)

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

Upon completion of this subject students should:

• comprehend the molecular, biochemical and cellular events that regulate the development of specialised cells, tissues and organs during embryonic development, particularly cell signalling pathways that regulate embryonic induction, tissue interactions and pattern formation, and expression of regulatory genes.

• understand the experimental strategies and techniques that are used to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms of development.

The following topics are considered: Mechanisms of cell determination and commitment; embryonic organizer; mesoderm induction; establishment of the vertebrate body plan; positional specification; tissue patterning; cell migration; epithelial-mesenchymal interactions; sex determination; developmental potency; growth control; cell and tissue transplantation; nuclear transplantation; cell ablation; cell lineage tracing; organogenesis in vitro; transgenesis; gene knockout; developmental mutations.

Assessment

A 2-hour end-of-semester written examination, a practical report, and two critical reviews of published journal articles.

Prescribed Texts

• Alberts B, Bray D, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K and Watson J D, Molecular Biology of the Cell. 3rd ed. 1994 Garland Publishing.