Author(s): Aires, Ana Rita Encarnação
Date: 2016
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/56198
Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
Project/scholarship: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/SFRH/SFRH%2FBD%2F51876%2F2012/PT;
Subject(s): Developmental; Biology; Biology
Axial elongation is a conserved, fundamental mechanism in vertebrate development. This process consists in the gradual addition of tissue to the posterior-most part of the embryo, resulting in a progressive assembling of the embryonic body in a rostro-caudal sequence. Axial elongation relies on the activity of a dedicated population of cells located in the caudal part of the embryo, the axial progenitors. These progenitors are a highly dynamic, self-renewing, multipotent pool of cells, whose properties vary with the progression of the axial elongation. During the initial stages of development, they reside in the epiblast and primitive streak and include precursors for all three embryonic germ layers – ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm.(...)
