STEP in BIOLOGY

Chapter # 19 Growth and Development

Topic
Development or Embryonic Development:
 The progressive changes which are undergone before an organism acquires its adult form constitute
embryonic development.

Growth:
 Growth is the permanent and irreversible increase in size that occurs as an organism mature.
 Growth is an irreversible increase in size and development is a programmed series of stages from a simpler to
more complex form.

Differentiate between growth and development:

Sr# Growth Development

1 It is an irreversible and permanent increase in The progressive changes which are undergone before an
number and size of cells. organism acquires its adult form constitute embryonic
development.
2 Growth is a continuous process. Development is restricted process from zygote to
formation of adult form.
3 It occurs after development. It occurs at earlier phase.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN PLANTS

In plants growth and development involve following steps:

 Cell division.
 Elongation.
 Differentiation of cells into tissues and then organs.
 As development proceeds, cellular differentiation of structure and function takes place.

Plant Growth Pattern:

 A plant has a growth pattern called open growth.

 Throughout life, the plant adds new organs such as branches, leaves and roots, enlarging from the tips of roots
and shoot.
 So, plants are said to have open growth pattern.

Rate of Growth Pattern in Plants:

 Rate of growth is not uniform throughout the plant body.

 At the beginning, the growth is slow.
 Then growth gradually becomes rapid and attains a maximum rate.
 Then gradually growth slows down.

Meristems:
 Meristems are young tissues or group of cells that retain the potential to divide.
 In vascular plants, growth occurs through the activity of meristems.
 In lower plants, the entire plant body is capable of growing.

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Growing Points:

 In higher plants, the entire plant body is not capable of growing but growth is limited to certain regions known
as growing points.
 These growing points consist of groups of cells which are capable of division, these growing points are called
meristems.

Types of meristems:

Meristematic cells are located at the stem and root and they are of the following types:

1. Apical Meristems:
 The apical meristems are found at the tips of roots and shoot.
 These are primarily concerned with the extension of plant body.
 These are perpetual growth zones found at the apices of roots and stems.
 They are responsible for increase in the number of cells at the tips of roots and stem, so they play important
role in primary growth.
2. Intercalary Meristems:
 These are the parts of apical meristem which get separated from apex by permanent tissues.
 They are situated at the bases of internodes in many plants.
 They play important role in the production of leaves and flowers.
 These are of temporary nature.
3. Lateral Meristems:
 Lateral meristems are cylinders of dividing cells.
 They are present in dicots and gymnosperms.
 Vascular and cork cambium are the examples of lateral meristem.
 They play an important role in the increase in diameter of stem and root.

Fig: Photomicrographs of the apex of a shoot (a) and a root (b).

Differentiate between apical meristem, intercalary meristem and lateral meristem:

Sr# Apical Meristem Intercalary Meristem Lateral Meristem

1 Meristem present at apex of root The meristem present at bases of The cylinders of dividing cells
and shoot is called apical internodes is called intercalary present in the vascular and cork
meristem. meristem. tissues is called lateral
meristem.
2 These are involved in primary These are involved in production of These are involved in secondary
growth. new leaves and branches. growth.
3 These are of temporary in nature. These are of temporary in nature. These are permanent in nature.
4 These are present in all types of These are also present in all types of These are present in dicots and
plants. plants. gymnosperms.

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Types of Secondary Growth:

i. Determinate Secondary Growth:

 When plant parts grow to certain size and then stop. It is called secondary growth.
 For example, growth in leaves flowers and fruits.
ii. Indeterminate Secondary Growth:
 When plant parts grow by meristems that continually replenish themselves, remaining youthful, this type of
growth is called indeterminate secondary growth.
 For example growth of vegetative roots and stem.

Types of Growth:

i. Primary Growth:
 Increase in plant length is called primary growth.
 Primary tissue is added by the apical meristem
ii. Secondary Growth:
 Increase in width of plant is called secondary growth.
 Secondary tissue is added by the intercalary or vascular cambium leading to increase in thickness.
Phases of Growth:
Growth of multicellular plant is divided into four phases:

1. Zone of Cell Division:

 During cell division, the number of cells increases by mitosis.
 It occurs at the tip of root and shoot.
 In this zone cells are:
 Small.
 Have spherical nuclei lying in the center of cytoplasm.
 Cells are non-vacuolated.
 As a result of cell division, each daughter cell proceeds to enlarge.
 Synthesis of cytoplasm and cell wall material also takes place in this zone.
2. Zone of Cell Elongation:
 A little distance from apex of root and shoot lies the zone of elongation.
 It is only of few millimeters in length.
 During elongation the cell volume increases upto150 fold due to uptake of water.
 Plasticity of the cell wall increases and wall pressure is reduced.
 Synthesis of new cytoplasm and cell wall material proceeds on.
3. Zone of Cell Maturation:
 During maturation, the final size of a given type of a cell is attained.
 The cells which develop into pith, cortex and certain other tissues do not elongate further along the axis.
 Other cells like fibers and tracheids elongate lengthwise more than in other direction.
4. Zone of Cell Differentiation:
 When the cell enlargement ceases, the process of differentiation starts.
 During this growth phase the walls of cells become thicker.
 The walls of many kinds of cells and tissues become pitted.
 Thickening appears on the walls of xylem vessels.
 Cells of various tissues differ in spatial dimensions.
 Many new structural features develop.

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Conditions of Growth
 The growth rate is influenced by number of factors both external and internal.
1. External Factors:
A. Temperature:

Temperature influences the rate of growth as follows:

 Normally rate of growth increases with rise of temperature and decreases with decrease in temperature.
 For maximum growth, the optimum temperature is 25-30°C.
 Growth is least at 5-10°C.
 At a very high temperature (35-40°C), the rate of growth stops and the plant may die.
 Plants grow within a certain range of temperature which is 0-35°C.
B. Light:
 Light plays very important role in the growth of plants.
 By light, we mean the fractions of light, which is absorbed by plant during photosynthesis.
Generally, light influences growth in three ways:

i. Intensity of Light:
 The increase in intensity of light increases the number of cell divisions.
ii. Quality of Light:
 The red light favors elongation of cells.
 Blue light enhances cell division but retards cell enlargement.
 Ultraviolet rays also retard cell elongation.
iii. Duration of Light:
 Duration of light affects the growth of vegetative and reproductive structures.
 It also plays a role in inducing or suppressing flowering.
 The phenomenon is termed as photoperiodism.
C. Oxygen:
 For successful growth, regular supply of oxygen is necessary.
 Without oxygen, no metabolic activity is possible and no growth takes place.

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 A very high supply of oxygen however, inhibits growth.
D. Carbon Dioxide:
 Carbon dioxide is essential for carrying out normal process of photosynthesis.
 A very high concentration of it can retard growth.
E. Water:
 By absorbing water, the cells elongate.
 The plant growth ceases in the absence of water.
F. Nutrition:
 Nutrients supply energy to growing plants.
 With the increase in nutrition, growth increases, whereas decrease in nutrition causes retardation of growth.
2. Internal Factors
A. Hormones:
 Plant hormones also influence growth.
 For example, Indole-3-acetic acid / (IAA) causes elongation of cells.
B. Vitamins:
 Vitamins are orgasmic compounds synthesized within the plant bodies in the presence of light.
 If the plants are grown in dark, the vitamin deficiencies are induced and growth of plant body ceases.

Differentiation
 Differentiation is the formation of specialized tissues from simple tissue.
 It can be considered to occur in plant in five stages as follows:

Stage Number Activity

Stage 1  Represents the formation of embryo.
Stage 2  Within the embryo, shoot and root apical meristems are recognized.
Stage 3  Cambium is recognized, it is responsible for secondary growth.
Stage 4  There is production of leaf primordial (these are the cells committed to become leaves,
shoot or roots).
 Root primordia develop from the root cambium, called pericycle.
 Leaf and shoot primordia develop directly from apical meristematic cells.
Stage 5  Fully differentiated tissues and structure are formed including xylem, phloem, leaves,
shoots and roots.

Fig: Graphic representation of growth and differentiation in plants

Growth Correlations
 Different organs in plants grow at different rates in different directions.
 Such reciprocal relationship is known as correlation.

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 The development of a plant is usually correlated with its growth.
 So, development of different parts of plants takes place.

Apical Dominance:
 When apical bud grows itself and suppresses the growth of lateral axillary buds, this phenomenon is called
apical dominance.
 In many plants, only apical bud grows while growth is suppressed in lower axillary buds.
 Apical dominance is one of the most important correlative effect in plants.
 In an experiment, when apical bud was removed, the growth in the lower buds was inhibited.
 So active shoot apex controls the development of lateral buds.

Hormonal Effect on Apical Dominance:

Following hormones are responsible for apical dominance:

1. Auxin:
 The auxin of the terminal bud is responsible for inhibiting the growth of lateral buds by a phenomenon known
as apical dominance.
 Later Thimann and Skoog in 1934 performed experiments and showed that apical dominance was caused by
auxin.

Inhibitory Effect:

 Auxin diffuses from the apical bud and inhibits the growth of lateral shoots is called inhibitory effect.

Compensatory Effect:

 The removal of apex releases the lateral buds from apical dominance.
 It is called compensatory effect.
2. Cytokinins:
 Research has also indicated that not only auxin causes apical dominance, cytokinins also play important role in
apical dominance.
 In many cases if cytokinins are applied directly on the inhibited bud, it allows lateral buds to be released from
apical dominance.
 It is also seen that those plants that have dense growth of lateral branches, have very little apical dominance.

Applications of Apical Dominance:

 It plays an important role in tap root development.

 Application of synthetic auxin can inhibit of sprouting of lateral buds (eyes) in potato tuber.
 In the later case, the sprouting of eyes is prevented and storing period is increased from one to three years.

Fig: Apical dominance

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Differentiate between inhibitory and compensatory effect:

Sr# Inhibitory Effect Compensatory Effect

1 Growth of lateral buds is inhibited by the growth Removal of apical bud releases the lateral buds from
of apical buds in apical dominance. This apical dominance. This phenomenon is called
phenomenon is called inhibitory effect. compensatory effect.
2 Auxin produced from apex is responsible for Cytokinins is responsible for compensatory effect.
inhibitory effect.

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ANIMALS

Embryology:

 Embryology is the study of growth and differentiation undergone by an organism in the course of its
development from a single fertilized egg into a highly complex and an independent living being like his parents.

Stages of development:

 Development is an ordered sequence of irreversible steps, with each step setting up the necessary conditions
for the next step.
 Since all animals are somehow related through the process of evolution, there are some similarities in their
various forms of development.
 Here is a broad outline of the early stages of development described in terms of several stages, depicted
below:

Development of Chick
 The development of chick has been taken as a basic scheme of development.
 It will provide basis for understanding the early differentiation of the organ systems and the fundamental
process of body formation, which is common to all vertebrates.

Fertilization and Incubation:

 The chick egg is called the yolk.

 It is surrounded by various accessory coverings secreted by the female reproductive tract.
 Fertilization is internal and normally takes place just as ovum is entering the oviduct.
 The shell is secreted as the egg passes through the shell gland in the uterus.

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 When an egg has been laid, the development ceases unless the temperature of egg is kept nearly up to the
body temperature of the mother.
 In incubating eggs artificially, the incubators are usually regulated at temperature between 36-38°C.
 At this temperature, the chick completes development and is hatched on the twenty first day.

Different stages of chick development are given below:

Cleavage:
 Immediately after fertilization the egg undergoes a series of mitotic divisions called cleavage.
 In bird’s egg the process of cell division is confined to the small disc of protoplasm lying on the surface of the
yolk at the animal pole.
 This type of cleavage is referred as discoidal cleavage.
 The cleavage furrows start in the clear cytoplasmic region.
 The first two cleavage planes are vertical while the third runs horizontally parallel to the surface and thus cuts
underneath the cytoplasm and separates it from the yolk.
 The successive cleavages become irregular and number of cells increase.

Fig: Cleavage stage in chick development

Morulla:

 Cleavage results in the formation of a rounded closely packed mass of blastomeres called morula.
 It consists of a disc shaped mass of cells two or more layers in thickness called blastoderm lying close to the
yolk.
 In the center of the blastoderm, the cells are smaller and completely defined.
 Cells at the periphery are flattened and larger.

Blastulla:

 The morula stage is short-lived and soon changes into blastula and is characterized by the presence of a
segmentation cavity or blastocoele.
 The discoidal cap of cells above the blastocoele is called blastoderm.
 The marginal area of the blastoderm in which the cells remain undetached from the yolk and closely adherent
to it is called the zone of junction.

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Gastrulation:

 It is characterized by the movement and rearrangement of cells in the embryo.

 During gastrulation, the blastoderm splits into two layers:
i. Epiblast:
 It is an upper layer of cells formed by splitting of blastoderm.
 The epiblast is mainly presumptive ectoderm and mesoderm.
ii. Hypoblast:
 It is a lower layer of cells called hypoblast formed by splitting of balstoderm.
 The hypoblast is mainly presumptive endoderm.

Differentiate between epiblast and hypoblast:

Sr# Epiblast Hypolast

1 Upper layer of cells of blastoderm is called Lower layer of cells of blastoderm is called hypoblast.
epibalst.
2 Epiblast is presumptive ectoderm and mesoderm. It is presumptive endoderm.

Differentiate between blastula and gastrula:

Sr# Blastula Gastrula

1 Morrula develops into blastula. Blastula develops into gastrula.
2 It is characterized by formation of blastocoel. It is characterized by migration of cells.
3 No germ layers are formed. Three germ layers are formed.

Differentiate between blastula and morula:

Sr# Blastula Morula

1 Morrula develops into blastula. Zygote transforms into morula.
2 It is characterized by formation of blastocoel. It is characterized by inner and outer layer of cells.
3 Fluid filled cavity is formed. Fluid filled cavity is not formed.
4 It is longer phase. It is shorter phase.

Endodermal Lining Formation:

 Hypoblast cells grow outward over the surface of the yolk, then downward around it to form the endodermal
lining of a yolk sac.

Area Pellucida:

 The central cells of blastoderm can be separated from the yolk.

 Under these central cells a pool of fluid develops, raising them of the yolk and giving the area of translucent
appearance the area pellucida.

Area Opaca:

 The peripheral part of the blastoderm where the cells lie unseparated from the yolk is termed as area opaca,
which is the white area that transmits light.

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Differentiate between area opaca and area pellucida:

Sr# Area Opaca Area Pellucida

1 Area consisting of peripheral part of blastoderm A pool of fluid develops under the central cells of
is called area opaca. blastoderm. This fluid raises these cells of blastoderm off
the yolk. This area of central cells is called area pellucida.
2 Cell are not separated from yolk. Cells are separated from yolk.
3 It is white area that transmits light. It is translucent area.

Notochord and Mesoderm Formation

 In the chick, the mesodermal cells do not invaginate as in amphibians, but migrate medially and caudally from
both sides.
 This migration of cells create a midline thickening called primitive streak which grows rapidly in length as more
and more presumptive mesodermal cells continue to aggregate in the middle.
 All this results in the change of shape of blastoderm.
 Blastoderm changes from circular to pear shaped.
 The anterior end of the primitive streak is occupied by an aggregation of cells called the primitive node or
notochordal cells while rest of cells are mesodermal cells.
 Shortly, after the primitive streak has been formed and the endoderm was well established, cells begin to push
in from the region of Hensen’s node to form the rod like notochord in the midline beneath the ectoderm.
 In chick embryo of about18 hours, notochord is one of the few prominent structural features.
 Thus primitive streak represents the dorsal and both lateral lips of blastopore.

Primitive Groove:

 The continuous migration of cells takes place between epiblast and hypoblast and results in the formation of
groove along the whole length of primitive streak.
 This is named as primitive groove which has thickened margins on both sides.
 These margins are the primitive ridges.

Hensen’s Node:

 At the cephalic end of primitive streak, closely packed cells form a local thickening known as Hensen’s node.
 The Hensen’s node however, marks the site of a somewhat special type of invagination.

Germ Wall:

 In sections of embryo incubated from 18-20 hours, it is seen that ectoderm has spread and become organized
into a adjacent layer of cells merging peripherally with the yolk.
 The marginal area where the expanding germ layers merge with the under lying yolk is known as germ wall.

Primitive Gut:

 The cavity between the yolk and the endoderm which has been called gastrocoele is now termed as primitive
gut.

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Fig: Notochord and Mesoderm Formation

Organization of Dorsal Mesoderm:

 From Hensen’s node, dorsal mesoderm is formed.

 Dorsal mesoderm is organized into somites.
 Somites are seen in 25-26 hours embryo, these are compact cell masses lying immediately lateral to neural
folds.

Organization of Lateral Plate Mesoderm:

The lateral plate mesoderm is splitted into two sheets like layers:

 Somatic mesoderm.
 Splanchnic mesoderm.

Coelom:

 The cavity formed between somatic and splanchnic mesoderm is coelom.

Neurulation:
 On the dorsal surface of gastrula, over the notochord, presumptive neural ectodermis present in the form of a
band.
 As gastrula elongates, the band thickens to form a neural plate.
 In chicks of 18 hours, neural plate was seen as a flat, thickened area of ectoderm.
 In embryos of 21-22 hours, a longitudinal folding has occurred, establishing the neural groove in the mid dorsal
line, on either side of neural folds.
 In 24 hours embryos, the folding of neural plate is clearly visible.
 The embryo is now termed as neurula.
 The anterior end of the neural groove is widest and forms the future brain and rest of portion is future spinal
cord.
 In the meantime, the neural plate sinks and the neural folds grow toward one another and meet in the mid-
dorsal line, fuse and convert the neural groove into neural tube.
 At each end of neural tube, a small opening called anterior and posterior neuro-pores are also seen, which
close later on.
 With the formation of neural tube, there is formation of central nervous system and the cavity enclosed is
known as neurocoel.
 This whole process is named as neurulation.

Differentiate between gastrocoel and neurocoel:

Sr# Gastrocoel Neurocoel

1 The cavity between yolk and endoderm is When neural plate infolds and neural folds merge to
primitive gut which was previously called form neural tube. It encases a cavity between called
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gastrocoel. neurocoel.
2 It will form the lumen of gut. It will form the ventricles of brain and central canal of
spinal cord.
3 It usually contains food. It usually contains CSF.

Differentiate between neurula and gastrula:

Sr# Neurula Gastrula

1 Formation of neural tube due to infolding of Stage of development during which cells migrate to from
neural plate results in the transformation of three germinal layers is called gastrula.
gastrula into neurula.
2 Phenomenon neurula formation is called Phenomenon of gastrula formation is called gastrulation.
neurulation.

Fig: Neurulation

Mechanisms of Development
Mechanism of Development in Animals:

 From a single celled zygote, multicellular individual is formed.

 Zygote contains complete information in the form of genome.
 Genome of zygote has come in the form of chromosomes from the eggs and sperms.
 During cleavage, zygote divides into many cells.
 Each cell has full set of chromosomes and gets complete instructions from the parents.
 During differentiation however some genes remain active, while others switch of.

Importance of Nucleus and Cytoplasm during Development:

The importance of nucleus and cytoplasm during development is revealed from the following experiments:

1. Hans Dietrisch:
 In 1892, Hans Dietrisch, took sea urchin egg at two-cell stage.
 He separated it apart into two cells.
 Later on, it was seen that both half embryos developed into normal larvae.
 Dietrisch concluded that both these cells contained all the genetic information of the original zygote.
2. Hans Spemann:

Spemann performed two experiments:

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Experiment-1

 In first experiment, he took salamander zygote, and with the help of minute ligature of human hair divided the
zygote into two equal halves.
 The nucleus was present in one half, but the other half had no nucleus.
 When the developmental process continued, it was seen that cleavage was completed in the half containing
nucleus but the anucleate half was not seen dividing.
 Eventually, when nucleated side had reached a 16-cell stage, one of the cleavage nuclei crossed the narrow
cytoplasmic bridge to the anucleate side.
 Immediately this side started dividing.
 It describes the role of nucleus in development.

Experiment-2

 Spemann also performed another experiment.

 He separated the two halves of embryo.
 Both halves contained nuclei.
 Both these halves developed into complete embryos.
 He also observed that from a 16-cell embryo even, if a single cell is separated.
 It contains a complete set of genes and forms a complete embryo.
 Through series of experiments, Spemann also observed that sometimes it may happen that the nucleated half
can develop into abnormal ball of cells.
 Later studies revealed that development depends on the position of gray crescent.
 Gray crescent is the pigment free area that appears at the time of fertilization.
 So in the half lacking gray crescent, no further development can take place.

Fig: Spemann’s delayed nucleation experiments. Two kinds of experiments were performed. A, Hair ligature was used
to constrict an uncleaved fertilized newt egg. Both sides contained part of the gray crescent. The nucleated side alone
cleaved until a descendant nucleus crossed over the cytoplasmic bridge. Then both sides completed cleavage and
formed two complete embryos. B, Hair ligature was placed so that the nucleus and gray crescent were completely
separated. The side lacking the gray crescent became an unorganized piece of belly tissue; the other side developed
normally.

Conclusions of Spemann:

On the basis of above experiments, Spemann made two conclusions:

1. All cells contain the same nuclear information.

2. In the gray crescent area, cytoplasm contains information essential for development.

Causes of Differentiation:

Next question is, if all the cells contain same nuclear material, what causes the cells to differentiate.

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There are two ways by which cell undergo differentiation and become committed to particular determinative
molecules as follows:

1. During cleavage, cytoplasmic segregation of determinative takes place.

2. Induction or interaction with the neighboring cells takes place.
Role of Cytoplasm in Development
 It is known that different cytoplasmic components contain different morpho genetic determinants that are
responsible for cell differentiation.
 These determinants are present in blastomeres.
 The fertilized egg of an ascidian contains cytoplasm of four different colors that is segregated into different
blastomeres.
1. Clear Cytoplasm:
 It produces larval epidermis.
2. Yellow Cytoplasm:
 It gives rise to muscle cells.
3. Gray Vegetal Cytoplasm:
 It gives rise to gut.
4. Grey Equatorial Cytoplasm:
 It produces notochord and neural tube.

Role of Nucleus in Development

 Most gene controlled substances, which can easily be identified are found in the cytoplasm, and are probably
produced in it.
 Through experiment, it is found that production of developmentally active substances by the nucleus itself, or
its immediate neighborhood, is, however available in some cases.

Acetabularia. An Experimental Organism:

 One of such example is in the unicellular alga, Acetabularia.

Structure of Acetabularia:

It consists following parts:

i. Rhizoid:
 It is attached to the ground.
ii. Stalk:
 A long stalk arises from rhizoid.
iii. Cap:
 An umbrella shaped cap present at top of stalk.
 If cap is removed, new cap is generated.
 There is only a single nucleus, although they may attain the size of several centimeters or more.

Species of Acetabularia:

On the basis of structure and shape of the cap, two species of Acetabularia have been identified:

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i. Acetabularia mediterranea:
 It has regular shaped cap.
ii. Acetabularia crenulata:
 It has irregular shaped cap.

Experiment of Haemmerling:

 Haemmerling showed that if the cap is removed, a new one is regenerated.

 He cut of the nucleus containing rhizome from an alga of one species (A. mediterranea) and grafted a similar
piece containing the nucleus of another species (A. crenulata).
 When the cap was now removed, it was seen that the new regenerated one had the characters of A. crenulata.
 So nucleus lying at the base of the alga and not the stalk determined the structure of cap.
 It means that irrespective of the fact to which species the cytoplasm belong, the genes were able to express
according to the type of nucleus.

Conclusion:

1. From all these experiments, it was concluded that both gene and cytoplasm play important role in
development.
2. Nucleus contains all genes, which determine the characteristics of the individual, while cytoplasm plays the
role of selection of genes.

Fig: Role of nucleus in development

Concept of Differentiation:
 A fertilized egg contains cytoplasmic components that are unequally distributed within the egg.
 These different cytoplasmic components are believed to have morphogenetic determinants that control the
functioning of a specific cell type.
 This is now called differentiation.
 Zygote contains complete information for the development of an individual but it is difficult to see, how these
cells differentiate.

Experiment of Spemann for Differentiation:

In order to understand the concept of differentiation, Spemann performed a series of experiments on amphibian
embryo as follows:

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Experiment-1

 He took out piece of ectoderm from frog’s embryo and grew it in a separate dish.
 The embryo from which the piece of ectoderm was removed, was unable to form normal nervous system but
has a defective nervous system.
 Similarly, the isolated piece did not develop any structure even though it was active and healthy.

Experiment-2

 In another experiment, he separated the mesoderm underlying ectoderm and folded the flap of ectoderm to
its original piece.
 The frog did not develop any nervous system.

Conclusion:

 So it was proved that mesoderm had some effect on the ectoderm to simulate the ectoderm cells to form
nervous system.

Embryonic Induction
 The capacity of some cells to evoke a specific development response in other is wide spread phenomenon in
development.

Working of Spemann and Hilde Mangold:

 Work on embryonic induction was reported by Hans Spemann and Hilde Mangold in 1924.
 They took two embryos of salamander at the gastrula stage and removed a piece of dorsal blastopore lip from
one embryo, and transplanted it into a ventral or lateral position of another salamandar gastrula.
 It invaginated and developed a notochord and somites.
 It also induced the second embryo to form neural tube and a complete nervous system was formed where the
dorsal balstopore lip was placed.
 The developing embryo had both the grafted tissue and induced lost time.
 Later on, it was seen that only cells from the dorsal lip of balstopore were capable of inducing a complete
embryo.
 This area corresponds to the presumptive area of notochord, somites and prechordal plate.
 Spemann designated the dorsal lip area the primary organizer because it was the only tissue capable of
inducing development of secondary embryo in the host. This was called primary induction.

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Fig: The Spemann primary organizer experiment

AGING
 It can be defined as negative physiological changes in our body.
 Aging is an inevitable process and despite all the efforts to inhibit or stop it aging process goes on.

Signs of Aging:

We identify the adult individual by the following signs of old age, all of them need not be present:

 Loss of hair pigment.

 Development of small pigmented areas in the skin of face and arms.
 Dryness and wrinkling of skin.
 Loss of agility.
 Increased weight due to fat.
 Poor vision.
 Forgetfulness.
 General weakness and decreased body immunity.
 Degeneration of organ and tissue may also take place e.g. in joints, arthritis arises from the degeneration of
cartilage.
 Degeneration and disappearance of the elastic tissues in the tunica media of the blood vessel result in
arteriosclerosis.
 Blood clotting in the coronary arteries.

Process of Aging:

The exact process of aging is still unknown, but the following points are worth consideration:

1. The cells of tissues have only a finite number of mitotic division and hence the cells may have reached their
finite number by the time tissue or organ is fully grown. For example in the case of nervous system, mental
activity and memory deteriorate and there are fewer nerve cells in old age.
2. Changes in intracelluar substances take place during aging. For example, collagen acquires increased cross
linkages in its protein molecules, while elastic tissues loss their elasticity with the passage of the time. There is
also hardening and loss of resilience in dense connective tissues and cartilage.
3. Spontaneous mutations may result in loss of cells and degeneration of tissues.

Control of Aging:

Process of aging can be slowed down by following measures:

 Better nutrition.
 Improved living conditions and routine as follows:
i. Regular meals.
ii. Exercise.
iii. Adequate sleep.
iv. Avoiding from smoking.
v. Maintaining ideal body weight.

These measures can prolong life by an average of 11 years.

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Gerontology:

 Study of aging is called gerontology.

 The number of older individuals is expected to rise.
 In the next half century, the number of people over age 75 will rise from present 8 million to 14.5 million.
 Similarly, the number of over age 80 will rise from 5 to 12 million.
 The human life span is judged to be maximum of 120 to 125 years.
 The present goal of gerontology is not necessarily to increase the life span but to increase the health span.

REGENRATION
 The ability to regain or recover the lost or injured part of the body is called regeneration.
1. Regeneration in Invertebrates:
A. Sponges:
 In sponges due to simple organization sponges possess greater power of regeneration.
 These not only replace the parts lost during injury, but any piece of the body is capable of growing into a
complete sponge.
 The process, is however, very slow and requires months or years for the complete development.
B. Lobster:
 If lobster loses its pincer claw a new claw regenerate.
C. Starfish:
 If starfish breaks of portions of their arms into pieces till the central disc completely devoid of arms is left, the
central disc in almost all cases and also the arms in some cases are capable of developing into separate
individuals.
D. Earthworm:
 If head of earthworm is removed, a new head regenerate.
2. Regeneration in Vertebrates:
A. Salamander:
 Limb regeneration has been studied mostly in salamanders of various ages.
 In these forms, the limbs are readily regenerated throughout life, more rapidly when the amphibian is young
and small.
 Besides limb, other parts of the body also have considerable regeneration capacity.
 For example, tail in the larva of amphibians.
B. Lizard:
 Lizard can easily discard its tail but tail can be regenerated by special features of its tail.
C. Healing of fracture and repair of a skin wound are some other examples of regeneration.
3. Regeneration in Plants:
 In plants, regeneration is the basis of plant propagation.
 Almost any part or even a very small fragment of a plant e.g. a piece of stem or leaf or even a single tissue cell
may develop into a full plant.
 A part of the stem with a few leaves may be taken from many kinds of plants and when planted in soil form a
complete plant.

Process of Regeneration:

1. Presence of Undifferentiated Cells:

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 In the process of regeneration, many of the various cell types which were present in the missing part of the
body are replaced by the differentiation of cells.

For example:

 In flatworms, and planaria the unspecialized cells, neoblasts, which are always present in the body of adult are
mobilized and migrate to the site of amputation, where they differentiate into specialized cell types.
2. Dedifferentiation of Differentiated Cells:
 In some organisms like salamanders or newts some of the specialized tissue cell types in the stump of an
amputated limb apparently dedifferentiate (become less specialized) and then proceed to differentiate into
the same and probably different types of cells.

Fig: Regeneration in Planaria

ABNORMAL DEVELOPMENT
 Any interference in the normal process of development is called abnormal development.
 Sometimes, under unfavorable conditions, some parts of the body show abnormal development.
 Teratology is the branch of biology, which deals with these abnormal developments and causes for such
developments.

Anything which interferes with the normal process of development is the factor causing abnormalities given as
follows:

1. Inherited Abnormalities:
 Abnormalities are inherited from parents through abnormal or defective gene(s).
 Abnormality of development is also related to the presence of defective gene on sex chromosomes e.g. in
hemophilia only males suffer from this disease.
 It again, depends whether the gene is dominant or recessive, homozygous or heterozygous.
2. Chromosomal Abnormalities:
 Chromosomal abnormalities result when one of the sex chromosomes (x or y) is missing or extra and these
abnormalities lead to syndromes.
 Klinefelter’s Syndrome (xxy) is an example of trisomy of the sex chromosome.
 Turner’s Syndrome (xo) is the condition in which one of the sex chromosomes is missing.
 Another condition, xyy leads to tallness, aggressiveness, mental defect and antisocial behavior.
 These abnormalities arise during the formation of gametes, when these gametes unite to from zygote.
3. Environmental Factors:
 Environmental factors causing or contributing to abnormal development are grouped together as teratogens.
 Ionizing radiations (e.g. x. rays) are well known for their teratogenic action.
 Because, they often have their effect on the developing ovum or spermatozoan, causing damage or changes
(mutations) in the genes.
4. Nutritional Deficiencies:
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 Nutritional deficiencies, absence of certain substances (e.g. vitamins and trace elements), toxins and drugs
even ingested by mother, effect the differentiation of every tissue in the fetus.
 If such deficiency is high, a cell may cause death of fetus.
5. Metabolic Defects:
 Metabolic defects lead to structural deviations from the normal.
 During organogenesis, when various body organs are formed, sometimes, one organ or its part is missing or it
is repeated and it can result into abnormal organs or body parts and the individual born are malformed.

Examples:

 In microcephaly, the individuals are born with small skull.

 Individuals with cleft palate have their upper lip folded or the individual has harelip.
 In conditions of the fingers in hand or feet are more or less than five.

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