Extension and patterning of the vertebrate body

Dissertation presented to obrain the Ph.D degree in Biology. Developmental Biology

Vertebrates 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.(...)