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.