Question

What is notochord? What are its importance in vertebrates? How does it works and formed?

Answer 1

Most school children know what a spine is and could even point it out on a diagram. Even if it was a diagram of a non-human animal like a dog, the spine is pretty easy to figure out. But even adults don't often know what a notochord is.


All chordates start out as one cell, a zygote. Eventually we divide into multiple cells in a single layer called a blastula. Then in a process called gastriculation, the blastula develops into 3 embryonic layers, which are collectively called the embryonic germ layers. These are the ectoderm, or outer layer, the mesoderm, or the middle layer, and the endoderm, or inner layer.