Question

3. Look at the sketches of embryos showing the derivatives of the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. Construct a concept map that links the precursor structures (e.g. neural crest, somite) with their derivatives that form later (e.g. teeth, axial muscle). Cut and paste the names of the derivatives of each germ layer on the correct picture of each embryo.

Answer 1

Any of three primary cell layers, formed in the earliest stages of embryonic development, consisting of the endoderm (inner layer), the ectoderm (outer layer), and the mesoderm (middle layer). The germ layers form during the process of gastrulation, when the hollow ball of cells that constitutes the blastula begins to differentiate into more-specialized cells that become layered across the developing embryo. The germ layers represent some of the first lineage-specific (multipotent) stem cells (e.g., cells destined to contribute to specific types of tissue, such as muscle or blood) in embryonic development. Hence, each germ layer eventually gives rise to certain tissue types in the body.

The endoderm is so called because it is the innermost of the three germ layers. Cells derived from the endoderm eventually form many of the internal linings of the body, including the lining of most of the gastrointestinal tract, the lungs, the liver, the pancreas and other glands that open into the gastrointestinal tract, and certain other organs, such as the upper urogenital tract and female vagina. Endoderm cells give rise to certain organs, among them the colon, the stomach, the intestines, the lungs, the liver, and the pancreas. The ectoderm, on the other hand, eventually forms certain “outer linings” of the body, including the epidermis (outermost skin layer) and hair. The ectoderm also is the precursor to mammary glands and the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Cells derived from the mesoderm, which lies between the endoderm and the ectoderm, give rise to all other tissues of the body, including the dermis of the skin, the heart, the muscle system, the urogenital system, the bones, and the bone marrow (and therefore the blood). The mesoderm is the germ layer that distinguishes evolutionarily higher life-forms (i.e., those with bilateral symmetry) from lower life-forms (i.e., those with radial body symmetry). The mesoderm allows more highly evolved organisms to have an internal body cavity that houses and protects organs, bathing them in fluids and supporting them with connective tissue.

Ectoderm, the outermost of the three germ layers, or masses of cells, which appears early in the development of an animal embryo. In vertebrates, ectoderm subsequently gives rise to hair, skin, nails or hooves, and the lens of the eye; the epithelia (surface, or lining, tissues) of sense organs, the nasal cavity, the sinuses, the mouth (including tooth enamel), and the anal canal; and nervous tissue, including the pituitary body and chromaffin tissue (clumps of endocrine cells). In adult cnidarians and ctenophores, the body-covering tissue, or epidermis, is occasionally called ectoderm

Because the germ layers can differentiate into a vast variety of organs and tissues, they are of particular interest to the study of human development and to stem cell research. A pluripotent stem cell is one that can become any of the three germ layers. The multipotent stem cells that then constitute the germ layers give rise to specific tissue lineages (e.g., a specific dermal layer or even one lineage within a dermal layer). The study of stem cells and cell differentiation has enabled scientists to reliably produce specific types of cells from human embryonic stem cells as well as from induced pluripotent stem cells (genetically reprogrammed adult cells), which has furthered knowledge of embryonic development and facilitated the development of novel cell-based therapies.

Somite, in embryology, one of a longitudinal series of blocklike segments into which the mesoderm, the middle layer of tissue, on either side of the embryonic spine becomes divided. Collectively, the somites constitute the vertebral plate. Out of the somites arise the sclerotome, forerunner of the bodies and neural arches of the vertebrae; the dermatome, precursor of the connective tissue of the skin; and the myotome, or primitive muscle, from which the major muscles of vertebrates are derived. The term somite is also used more generally to refer to a body segment, or metamere, of a segmented animal.