Evolution and development of spinal cord stem cells and cell type diversity

Thesis

How did spinal cord in vertebrates evolve to have its current morphology and function? To answer this I have looked at spinal cord organogenesis in different lineages. I use lamprey, a basally diverging vertebrate, as a model for the vertebrate ancestor and amphioxus, a cephalochordate, as an out-group for comparison. I have approached the question from three dimensions, the anterior-posterior (AP) axis, dorsal-ventral (DV) axis, and the medial-lateral (ML) axis, with my main focus on DV p...

Expand abstract

Authors: Leung, B

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: spinal cord patterning; BMP; Wnt; amphioxus; retinoic acid; Fgf; lamprey; notch; spinal cord development; evolution; Shh
• Subjects: Developmental neurobiology; Evolution (Biology)