Like all complex organisms, every human originates from a single cell that multiplies through countless cell divisions. Thousands of cells coordinate, move and exert mechanical forces on each other as ...

Chromosphaera perkinsii is a single-celled species discovered in 2017 in marine sediments around Hawaii. The first signs of its presence on Earth have been dated at over a billion years, well before ...

Embryonic study in the locust shows basiconic sensilla cell clusters arise distal to proximal and their axons stack ...

In order for vertebrate embryos to develop their body axes, they require what is known as an embryonic signaling center. This group of cells provides the instructions that determine where up and down, ...

How can we explain the morphological diversity of living organisms? Although genetics is the answer that typically springs to mind, it is not the only explanation. By combining observations of ...

Three years ago, George Kassiotis and his team made an unexpected discovery: A specific way of producing a protein called calbindin was found to help cancer cells survive by preventing them from aging ...

How did the characteristic pattern of embryonic cell divisions during animal development evolve? Analysis of the multicellular development of an organism related to animals now provides some answers.

Is there only one optimal configuration an organism can reach during evolution? Is there a single formula that describes the trajectory towards the optimum? And can we 'derive' it in a purely ...

Mechanical forces are crucial for driving and shaping tissue morphogenesis during embryonic development 1–3 . However, their relevance for the evolution of development remains poorly understood 4 .

Small fold – big role: A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic ...

Despite differences in shape and size all insects are characterized by a body organization that includes three units: a head, thorax and abdomen (panels A-B). In contrast all spiders (and other ...

Introduction : The modularity concept in developmental and evolutionary biology / Gerhard Schlosser and Günter P. Wagner -- Selector genes and the genetic control of developmental modules / Craig ...