Gastrula in the context of "Cellular differentiation"

Eumetazoa (from Ancient Greek εὖ (eû) 'well' μετά (metá) 'after' and ζῷον (zôion) 'animal'), also known as Epitheliozoa or Histozoa, is a proposed basal animal subkingdom as a sister group of Porifera (sponges). The basal eumetazoan clades are the Ctenophora and the ParaHoxozoa. Placozoa is now also seen as a eumetazoan in the ParaHoxozoa. The competing hypothesis is the Myriazoa clade. The subkingdom Parazoa and Agnotozoa are the other taxa, and agnotozoa may be fake or even nonexistent at studies. Parazoa or Agnotozoa are a main sister group to eumetazoans, forming clade Blastozoa/Diploblastozoa. Alternatively,Parazoa was considered as a sister group to Agnotozoa (now considered polyphyletic).Several other extinct or obscure life forms, such as Iotuba and Thectardis, appear to have emerged in the group. Characteristics of eumetazoans include true tissues organized into germ layers, the presence of neurons and muscles, and an embryo that goes through a gastrula stage.

Some phylogenists once speculated the sponges and eumetazoans evolved separately from different single-celled organisms, which would have meant that the animal kingdom does not form a clade (a complete grouping of all organisms descended from a common ancestor). However, genetic studies and some morphological characteristics, like the common presence of choanocytes, now unanimously support a common origin.

Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, embryon, "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, -logia) is the branch of zoology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and fetuses. Embryology includes teratology, the study of congenital disorders that occur before birth.

Early embryology was proposed by Marcello Malpighi, and known as preformationism, the theory that organisms develop from pre-existing miniature versions of themselves. Aristotle proposed the now-accepted theory of epigenesis, the idea that organisms develop from seed or egg in a sequence of steps. Modern embryology developed from the work of Karl Ernst von Baer, though accurate observations had been made in Italy by anatomists such as Aldrovandi and Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance.

Blastulation is the stage in early animal embryonic development that produces the blastula. In mammalian development, the blastula develops into the blastocyst with a differentiated inner cell mass and an outer trophectoderm. The blastula (from Greek βλαστός (blastos meaning sprout)) is a hollow sphere of cells known as blastomeres surrounding an inner fluid-filled cavity called the blastocoel. Embryonic development begins with a sperm fertilizing an egg cell to become a zygote, which undergoes many cleavages to develop into a ball of cells called a morula. Only when the blastocoel is formed does the early embryo become a blastula. The blastula precedes the formation of the gastrula in which the germ layers of the embryo form.

A common feature of a vertebrate blastula is that it consists of a layer of blastomeres, known as the blastoderm, which surrounds the blastocoel. In mammals, the blastocyst contains an embryoblast (or inner cell mass) that will eventually give rise to the definitive structures of the fetus, and a trophoblast which goes on to form the extra-embryonic tissues.

Triploblasty is a condition of the gastrula in which there are three primary germ layers: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. Germ cells are set aside in the embryo at the blastula stage, and are incorporated into the gonads during organogenesis. The germ layers form during the gastrulation of the blastula. The term triploblast may refer to any egg cell in which the blastoderm splits into three layers.

All bilaterians, which are the animals with bilaterally symmetrical embryos, are triploblastic. Other animal taxa, namely the ctenophores, placozoans, and cnidarians, are diploblastic, which means that their embryos contain only two germ layers. Sponges are even less developmentally specialized, because they lack both true tissues and organs.

Diploblasty is a condition of the early embryo in which there are two primary germ layers: the ectoderm and endoderm.

Diploblasts are the organisms which develop with two germ layers, and include Cnidaria and Ctenophora, formerly grouped together in the phylum Coelenterata, but later understanding of their differences resulted in their being placed in separate phyla.

Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, embryon, 'the unborn, embryo'; and -λογία, -logia) is the branch of zoology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and fetuses. Embryology includes teratology, the study of congenital disorders that occur before birth.

Early embryology was proposed by Marcello Malpighi, and known as preformationism, the theory that organisms develop from pre-existing miniature versions of themselves. Aristotle proposed the now-accepted theory of epigenesis, the idea that organisms develop from seed or egg in a sequence of steps. Modern embryology developed from the work of Karl Ernst von Baer, though accurate observations had been made in Italy by anatomists such as Aldrovandi and Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance.