Interaction of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) with human amniotic epithelial cells (hAEC) confers hESC a pluripotent potential that resembles the anteriorized epiblast, which is predisposed to form the neural ectoderm.

Embryonic fate-mapping approaches in zebrafish, Xenopus and lamprey illuminate the evolutionary origins of carotid body glomus cells and pulmonary neuroendocrine cells.

A three-dimensional investigation of extinct-tetrapod limbs shows that even though bone elongation and blood-cell production are intimately related to mammal long bones, these functions actually appeared successively in tetrapod evolution.

Lineage analysis reveals that cardiac neural crest contributes to cardiomyocytes across vertebrates and consistent with this, the neural crest gene regulatory program is reactivated upon heart regeneration in zebrafish.

Both gill musculature and the evolutionarily conserved cucullaris muscle are derived from unsegmented mesoderm adjacent to the first 3 somites, extending the posterior limit of cranial mesoderm.

Ancient fossils give clues as to when features of modern tetrapod bones emerged.

The coquí frog is of interest to researchers in fields as diverse as development biology, social behavior and the biology of invasive species.

Finch embryos are laid at an earlier stage than other avian embryos and contain cells with similar properties to pluripotent embryonic stem cells from mice.

Zebrafish scales depend on interactions among Wnt, Ectodysplasin and Hedgehog signaling pathways similar to those underlying feathers, teeth and hair follicles, suggesting a deep homology of ectodermal appendages in vertebrates.

Analyses of transcriptomic dynamics in a new model of human amnion formation identify five continuous amniogenic transcriptional phases as well as a critical role of TFAP2A in amnion fate progression.