Publications by authors named "B D Metscher"

The chondrocranium provides the key initial support for the fetal brain, jaws and cranial sensory organs in all vertebrates. The patterns of shaping and growth of the chondrocranium set up species-specific development of the entire craniofacial complex. The 3D development of chondrocranium have been studied primarily in animal model organisms, such as mice or zebrafish.

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The evolutionary forces that allowed species adaptation to different terrestrial environments and led to great diversity in body shape and size required acquisition of innovative strategies of pattern formation during organogenesis. An extreme example is the formation of highly elongated viscera in snakes. What developmental patterning strategies allowed to overcome the space constraints of the snake's body to meet physiological demands? Here we show that the corn snake uses a Sox2-Sox9 developmental tool kit common to other species to generate and shape the lung in two phases.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Bone in vertebrates likely originated from ancestral dermal armor, but its developmental origins are debated, especially whether they come from mesoderm or neural crest cells.
  • - A study using the sterlet sturgeon shows that neural crest cells from the trunk are responsible for forming osteoblasts in their dermal armor, specifically in scutes.
  • - Further analyses indicate that the composition and structure of dermal armor in modern ray-finned fish resemble those of early armored vertebrates, highlighting the neural crest's important evolutionary role in the development of these features across the body.
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Structural and Doppler velocity data collected from optical coherence tomography have already provided crucial insights into cardiac morphogenesis. X-ray microtomography and other ex vivo methods have elucidated structural details of developing hearts. However, by itself, no single imaging modality can provide comprehensive information allowing to fully decipher the inner workings of an entire developing organ.

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The morphology of the proboscis and associated feeding organs was studied in several nectar-feeding hawk moths, as well as a specialized honey-feeder and two supposedly nonfeeding species. The proboscis lengths ranged from a few millimeters to more than 200 mm. Despite the variation in proboscis length and feeding strategy, the principle external and internal composition of the galeae, the stipes pump, and the suction pump were similar across all species.

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