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Figure 1 | BMC Cell Biology

Figure 1

From: In vivo imaging of Nematostella vectensis embryogenesis and late development using fluorescent probes

Figure 1

Phylogenetic position and life-cycle of Nematostella vectensis . A) Cnidarians are one of four early-evolved animal phyla that have recently been placed as the sister taxa to Bilaterians. (Phylogeny based on Hejnol [10]). B) The biphasic life cycle of anthozoan cnidarians like Nematostella vectensis begins with an early cleavage program that leads to a hollow blastula. At this stage, cells colored yellow mark the future site of gastrulation and where the mouth will eventually form (red star). During invagination the endo-mesoderm is formed, resulting in a diploblastic animal. In the ectoderm (blue) at the aboral pole of the planula larva a sensory structure called the apical organ (AO) or apical tuft forms. Once the animal undergoes metamorphosis, the animal possesses tentacles (T) used for feeding and can produce gametes for microinjection

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