Animal models are essential tools for addressing fundamental scientific questions about
skeletal diseases and for the development of new therapeutic approaches. Traditionally …

The origin of vertebrates was accompanied by the advent of a novel cell type: the neural
crest. Emerging from the central nervous system, these cells migrate to diverse locations and …

Bone is an evolutionary novelty of vertebrates, likely to have first emerged as part of
ancestral dermal armor that consisted of osteogenic and odontogenic components. Whether …

Hagfish depart so much from other fishes anatomically that they were sometimes considered
not fully vertebrate. They may represent:(i) an anatomically primitive outgroup of vertebrates …

Osteoderms are mineralised structures consisting mainly of calcium phosphate and
collagen. They form directly within the skin, with or without physical contact with the skeleton …

The neural crest is a migratory cell population that contributes to multiple tissues and organs
during vertebrate embryonic development. It is remarkable in its ability to differentiate into an …

Two major skeletal systems—the endoskeleton and exoskeleton—are recognized in
vertebrate evolution. Here, we propose that these two systems are distinguished primarily by …

Understanding how patterning influences cell behaviors to generate three dimensional
morphologies is a central goal of developmental biology. Additionally, comparing these …

The role of teeth and jaws, as innovations that underpinned the evolutionary success of
living jawed vertebrates, is well understood, but their evolutionary origins are less clear. The …

Teleosts comprise about half of all vertebrate species and exhibit an extraordinary diversity
of adult pigment patterns that function in shoaling, camouflage, and mate choice and have …