Nucleolar ontogenesis in the uterine chick germ correlated with morphogenetic events

Nucleolar development in the cleaving chick germ up to the formation of the primary hypoblast was followed through a series of well-defined uterine and early incubated stages both by light and electron microscopy. Well-established criteria of nucleolar morphology were used for determining the developmental stage of onset of rRNA synthesis. By these criteria rRNA synthesis was first observed at midcleavage in uterine stage VII [1] germs. This could be correlated with the first morphogenetic event—the posterio-anteriorly orientated formation of the area pellucida which results in a bilaterally symmetrical blastoderm.