Chapter 18, Problem 2P

Bird beaks develop from an embryonic group of cells called neural crest cells that are part of the neural tube that gives rise to the spinal column and related structures. Amazingly, neural crest cells can be surgically transplanted from one embryo to another, even between embryos of different species. When quail neural crest cells were transplanted into duck embryos, the beak of the host embryo developed into a shape similar to that found in quails, creating the “quck.” Duck cells were recruited in addition to the quail cells to form part of the quck beak. Conversely, when duck neural crest cells were transplanted into quail embryos, the beak of the embryo resembled that of a duck, creating a “duail,” and quail cells were recruited to form part of the beak. What do these experiments tell you about the autonomy or non-autonomy of the transplanted and host cells during beak development?