Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica
Abstract
Dissertation presented to obrain the Ph.D degree in Biology. Developmental BiologyVertebrates exhibit an enormous diversity in body shapes. Despite this
variability, they all develop by a common principle, in which new tissue
is continuously added at the posterior embryonic end during
development. Axial extension requires a tight balance between the
maintenance of axial progenitors in an undifferentiated state and the
production of cells fated to generate different body structures.
Concurrently, newly formed tissues are endowed with patterning
information that coordinates their differentiation.(...