Practice question

Mosaic development emerges when embryonic pattern arises primarily from intrinsic determinants rather than extrinsic cell communication, defining autonomous specification. Blastomeres become committed early after cleavage, and overall architecture is sum of independent lineages like tiles in a mosaic. Organisms such as C. elegans, tunicates and many spiralians exemplify this mode; ablation of a blastomere permanently eliminates corresponding tissues without replacement by neighbors. Because fate depends on internal inheritance rather than interaction, regulative capacity is limited. Later developmental stages incorporate limited conditional induction to refine certain tissues, but underlying logic remains determinant-driven.