The Vertebrate Organizer

Part I: EARLY STEPS LEADING TO THE FORMATION OF THE ORGANIZER. Maternal VegT and b catenin: Patterning the Xenopus Blastula.- Short VS. Long range effcts of Spemann's Organizer.- Formation of the Endoderm in Xenopus.- Role of Fox genes during Xenopus embryogenesis. Part II: THE ROLE OF THE ORGANIZER. The Molecular Nature of Spemann's Organizer.- The community effect in Xenopus development.- Regulation of Spemann's organizer formation.- Transcriptional Repression in the Spemann Organizer and the Formation of Dorsal Mesoderm.- Wnt signals and antagonists: The molecular nature of Spemann's head organizer.- Basic helix-loop-helix proneural genes and neurogenesis in Xenopus embryos.- Organizer activities mediated by retinoic acid signaling.- Wnt signalling and regulation of gastrulation movements. Part III: THE ORGANIZER AND PATTERN FORMATION How Cell - Cell Adhesion Contributes To Early Embryonic Development.- Patterning Non-neural Ectoderm by Organizer-modulated Homeodomain Factors. Part IV: AXIS FORMATION AND ORGANOGENESIS. Embryonic body formation and organogenesis in amphibian development.- Organizing the eye.- A critical role for retinoid receptors in axial patterning and neuronal differentiation.- Molecular patterning of the embryonic brain.- Epidermal, neuronal and glial cell fate choice in the embryo.- Downstream of the Organizer: The Xenopus cement gland as a model for organ positioning and differentiation. Part V: ORGANIZER FORMATION IN DIFFERENT VERTEBRATES The organizer in amphibians with large eggs: problems and perspectives.- Formation and Functions of the Gastrula Organizer in Zebrafish.- Hensen's node: The embryonic organizer of the chick.- Formation and Function of the Mouse Organizer.

From the reviews:



"Horst Grunz has done a great job in editing a splendid book on vertebrate early development ... and has collected a great team of leading researchers as authors for the different chapters. ... The book is nicely produced and most chapters well illustrated. ... The book is also well bound and will withstand intense use in libraries, laboratories and offices. ... it is a very fine book indeed, and can be recommended to research workers and advanced students of induction and pattern formation." (Lennart Olsson, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Vol. 43 (3), 2005)