As a result of the molecular genetic analysis of development similar mechanisms for the regulation of gene expression are found in a wide range of organisms. In "Development - the Molecular Genetic Approach" these common mechanisms as well as the specific events leading to a differentiated cell are described. Particular items treated are, for example, how asymmetry is achieved, how cell size is determined, how cell division is controlled, how cell lineage influences development, how cells know their position, and how cells communicate during development.

Section 1 Microbial Systems, Both Prokaryote and Eukaryote

1 Virus Assembly and Morphogenesis
2 Bacillus subtilis Sporulation: a Paradigm for the Spatial and Temporal Control of Gene Expression
3 Development in Caulobacter crescentus
4 Streptomyces coelicolor: a Mycelial, Spore-Bearing Prokaryote
5 The Programme of Cell Type Determination in Fission Yeast
6 Development in Neurospora crassa
7 Genetic Regulation of Sporulation in the Fungus Aspergillus nidulans
8 Development of Trypanosomes
9 Dictyostelium: From Unicellularity to Multicellularity
10 Control of the Cell Cycle in Yeasts
11 Orcadian Rhythms of Neurospora
Section 2 Plants
12 Regulation of Development in the Moss, Physcomitrella patens
13 Plant Photoperception: the Phytochrome System
14 Exploration of Agrobacterium tumefaciens
15 Exploitation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens
16 Developmental Genetics of Arabidopsis
17 Homeotic Genes in the Genetic Control of Flower Morphogenesis in Antirrhinum majus
18 The Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis
Section 3 Animals
19 Embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans
20 Generation of Temporal and Cell Lineage Asymmetry During C. elegans Development
21 Genetic and Molecular Analysis of Early Pattern Formation in Drosophila
22 Generation of Pattern in Drosophila melanogaster Adult Flies
23 Genetic Mechanisms in Early Neurogenesis of Drosophila melanogaster
24 Xenopus Embryogenesis
25 The Developmental Regulation of the Genes Coding for 5S Ribosomal RNA in Xenopus laevis
26 From Drosophila to Mouse
27 Cloning Developmental Mutants from the Mouse t Complex
28 The Use of in Situ Hybridisation to Study the Molecular Genetics of Mouse Development
29 Insertional Mutagenesis and Mouse Development
30 The Introduction of Genes into Mouse Embryos and Stem Cells
31 Skeletal Muscle Differentiation
32 Hepatocyte Differentiation
33 Cellular Differentiation in the Hematopoietic System: an Introduction
34 The Role of Oncogenes in Myeloid Differentiation
35 Developmental Regulation of Human Globin Genes: a Model for Cell Differentiation in the Hematopoietic System
36 Growth Control in Animal Cells.