PZ Myers. 2006 Dec 10. Development Take-Home Exam #3. <http://development.pharyngula.org/development_take_home_exam_3/>. Accessed 2008 Aug 30.
Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Sunday, December 10, 2006
Development Take-Home Exam #3
Due 21 December 2006 (or earlier!)
Write a two to three page, single-spaced essay on the questions below that succinctly summarizes your main ideas on the topic. Three pages is an absolute upper limit on the length; these are big questions, but I expect you to exercise discrimination and practice brevity in delivering the answers.
You can and should work on the research with other students, but you must do the actual organization and writing of the essay itself on your own.
Everyone must answer this question:
1. Read this paper:
Sanchez-Soriano N, Prokop A. (2005) The Influence of Pioneer Neurons on a Growing Motor Nerve in Drosophila Requires the Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule Homolog FasciclinII. J Neurosci 25(1):78-87.
Write a summary. Be sure to explain the experiments and their results in sufficient detail that we can understand how the authors come to their conclusions.
Pick two of the following three questions to answer.
2. I talked to you about morphogenesis in complex multi-cellular animals, and the various processes involved in signaling, adhesion, migration, and tissue-level shape changes. Get simpler. Tell me about the morphogenetic events in slime mold aggregation and differentiation, and relate them to the developmental processes in metazoans..
3. The development of commissural pathways is a special case in neurodevelopment. Explain how pathways that cross the midline are set up in vertebrates Tell me all about netrins, robo, slit, and any other molecules you think are important in establishing these pathways, and how they work; also outline the relevant tissue level organization of the CNS—what is the floorplate and roofplate?.
4. Compare and contrast the general principles of the development of plants vs. animals. Explain the effects of cell walls and meristems, and also the similarities and differences of some of the transcription factors involved in patterning (MADS vs. Hox). I want you to write this explanation as if you were preparing the background research for your favorite high school biology teacher (if you didn’t have one, pretend) who is putting together a lesson plan for a lecture on development. In other words, think about how to communicate the idea to high school kids, but write it for someone with some basic knowledge of biology.