1.  Compare and contrast the development of sperm and ovum.

2. Compare and contrast the process of fertilization in animals and plants.

3. Explain a molecular mechanism by which the fertilized egg is "determined" such that early cleavage generates cells of different fates.

4. Explain examples of how maternal and zygotic gene products interact in the early development of Drosophilla.

5. Give an example of an inductive signal in development. Explain three different molecular mechanisms by which one cell can induce another cell to differentiate.

6. Discuss how the microbial reproductive mechanism of Caulobacter exemplifies differentiation without multicellularity. Explain the key epigenetic mechanism of differentiation that is similar to epigenetic factors in early mammalian development.

7. Explain the role of sigma factors in Bacillus endospore formation. How do the interactions of sigma factors compare with the interactions of transcription factors in Drosophila?

8. Compare and contrast the fundamental principles of plant development with those of animal development.

9. In flower development, explain how homeotic mutations lead to "monster" flowers.

10. Explain the formation of the blastula and gastrula in the sea urchin and in the frog. Explain how gastrulation leads to neurulation and somite formation in the frog and in the chick embryo. Can we study neurulation in Drosophila or in C. elegans?

11. Explain an experiment in Drosophila to show whether gene A product regulates gene B expression, or vice versa. Be able to interpret data shown for experiments on maternal genes and gap genes in the early embryo.

12. Explain how Hox genes regulate segmentation in Drosophila and somite formation in the chick embryo. Cite experimental evidence.

13. In mammalian cloning, explain how the meiotic events of egg development and maturation enable the unfertilized egg to receive an adult nucleus and begin development.

14. Explain the role of human egg development: in vitro fertilization; parthenogenesis; an implanted embryo; embryonic stem cells.