Developmental biology





Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow
and develop. Originating in embryology, today developmental biology studies
the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and specialization into
tissues and organs. The related field of evolutionary developmental biology
was formed largely in the 1990s and is a synthesis of findings from
molecular developmental biology and evolutionary biology which considers the
diversity of organismal form in an evolutionary context.

Often used model organisms for developmental biology are the round worm
Caenorhabditis elegans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the zebrafish
Brachydanio rerio, the African clawed toed frog Xenopus laevis and the weed
arabidopsis Arabidopsis thaliana.

The findings of developmental biology can help to understand (or some day,
cure) developmental malfunctions such as chromosomal aberration, for
example, down syndrome. An understanding of the specialization of stem cells
to specific tissues and organs could lead to the specific cloning of organs
for medical purposes.