OLSSON, Lennart; ERICSSON, Rolf; Friedrich-Schiller-Universit�t Jena; Uppsala University: Three-dimensional morphogenesis of cranial musculature in lungfishes and amphibians Vertebrate head development is a classical topic that has received renewed attention during the last decade. Most reports use one of a few model organisms (chicken, mouse, zebrafish), and have focused on molecular mechanisms and the role of […]

DAVIDSON, B.J.*; LEVINE, M.S.; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley: The way to a chordate�s heart is through its germ cells? Germ line silencing and other factors involved in Ciona intestinalis heart development. We are investigating heart development in the basal chordate Ciona intestinalis. Several cardiac genes, including the sole Ciona ortholog of […]

OAKLEY, T.H.; Univ. of California, Santa Barbara: The eye as a replicating and diverging developmental unit Sparked by new discoveries in developmental genetics, few topics have generated as much debate as eye evolution. This is somewhat surprising because the central controversy is not unique to eyes, but is a general theme of developmental genetics: evolutionarily […]

MCCAULEY, D.W.; BRONNER-FRASER, M.; California Institute of Technology; California Institute of Technology: Sox9 expression in neural crest cells of the branchial arches affects cartilage development in the lamprey, Petromyzon marinus Cranial neural crest cells form numerous vertebrate structures, including craniofacial cartilage. In the lamprey, the basal-most extant vertebrate, ablation experiments provide indirect evidence that neural […]

TOKITA, M; Kyoto Univ.: Morphogenesis of unique jaw muscles in parrots Parrots have developed novel head structures in their evolutionary history. The appearance of two new muscles for strong jaw adduction is especially fascinating in developmental and evolutionary contexts. However, the jaw muscle development of parrots has not been described, despite its uniqueness. To better […]

HERNANDEZ, L.P.; George Washington University: Hedgehog signaling affects growth and differentiation of pharyngeal cartilages. Hedgehog (Hh) is expressed in the pharyngeal endoderm during the time that pharyngeal cartilages are developing. Given that the Hh pathway has been implicated in chondrocyte proliferation in long bones this pathway may play a role in pharyngeal cartilage development. I […]

FRANSSEN, RA; Univ. of Chicago: Chondrogenesis in the developing limbs of urodeles Ambystoma and Desmognathus Salamanders are infrequently mentioned in models of tetrapod limb formation as their development varies considerably from that of amniotes. However, urodeles provide an opportunity to study two modes of limb formation within a single lineage – development through a larval […]

HANDRIGAN, Gregory R.*; WASSERSUG, Richard J.; Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada; Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada: A role for Gdf11 in patterning the anuran vertebral column The hallmark of vertebrates is their vertebral column. This string of skeletal elements protects the spinal cord and provides a rigid core against which axial muscles work. Terrestrial vertebrates […]

GRAY, E.M.; BRADLEY, T.J.; Univ. of California, Irvine; Univ. of California, Irvine: Water Balance in two Tropical Mosquitoes, Anopheles gambiae and An. arabiensis Anopheles arabiensis and its sister species An. gambiae occupy distinct ranges in the African Sub-Saharan region: the former is found in more arid habitats than the latter. Small insects face a high […]

PINSHOW, Berry; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: Plasma volume maintenance during long distance flight in birds vs. plasma volume maintenance in desert mammals: different origins for analogous traits Both mammals and birds defend plasma volume under stressful, dehydrating environmental conditions. In mammals, plasma volume maintenance has been studied in a variety of desert species and […]