placode

[plak-ohd]

noun

Embryology.

1. a local thickening of the endoderm in the embryo, that usually constitutes the primordium of a specific structure or organ.

Word History and Origins

Origin of placode¹

1905–10; < Greek plak- (stem of pláx ) something flat, tablet + -ode ¹

Example Sentences

"Either the placode was ancestral for everyone and then it was lost multiple times in independent lineages of reptile … or birds and mammals invented placodes independently," he said.

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The second possibility seemed particularly unlikely because research had revealed that the same exact gene, called EDA, controlled placode development in both groups.

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By analyzing the genomes of the naked bearded dragons, they narrowed down the culprit to a mutation in a single gene, called EDA, which is also known to disrupt placode development in birds and mammals.

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The experiment suggests that EphB2 tells the placode which way is up.

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