- differentiation
- commitment
- specification
- determination

Terminology of Developing Patterning

Autonomous specification is one mode of cell commitment.  Blastomeres are apportioned different amounts of cytoplasmic determinants based off of the non-homogenous distribution of these specifying factors in the egg that gave rise to the embryo.  Early blastomeres are already specified and determined to their fate, meaning that these cells "know" what to become without interacting with other cells.  

Autonomous Specification

Conditional specification is one mode of cell commitment.  This process allows cells to gain their respective fates by interacting with other cells through juxtacrine factors, paracrine factors, and the physical properties of the cell's environment.  Conditional specification depends on conditions, including physical location.  

Conditional Specification

Syncytial specification is one mode of cell commitment that utilizes autonomous and conditional specification mechanisms.  It occurs in a cytoplasm that contains multiple nuclei, known as a syncytium.  The cytoplasm contains gradients that control cell fate along the egg cell's anterior-posterior axis.  As nuclei are positioned along the anterior-posterior axis after fertilization, they experience different concentrations of cytoplasmic determinants.  This interaction between the multiple nuclei and the differing amounts of determinants give rise to differing cell fates.  

Syncytial Specification

- terminology
- autonomous specification
- conditional specification
- syncytial specification

Michigan State University

- embryology
- mechanisms of developmental patterning
- cell-to-cell communication

Focuses of Developmental Biology

Barresi, M. J., &amp; Gilbert, S. F. (2020). Developmental Biology (12th ed.). New York: Sinauer.

Developmental Biology (12th ed.)

The study of animal development from fertilization to birth.  

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