Asymmetry in spiralian development

Thesis

In animal development, how an animal builds its body has been a fundamental and central question. Spanning different fields, we have a good understanding of how animals build their body axes (anterior-posterior, dorsal-ventral) and this understanding is now a routine concept when learning about animal development. There are a number of mysteries left when considering early development, and the establishment of left-right (LR) asymmetry remains one of them. One key problem is how initial symmetry is broken early in animal development and how this translates into molecular asymmetry. Our lack of understanding is based on the difficulty of adapting available techniques to non-model species. This thesis uses an alternative approach to the current LR asymmetry models, and reveals that by adapting techniques to non-model organisms and by using newly available technologies, there is still much to be learned and discovered in embryology.

Authors: Namigai, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-7rb654yy2
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford