Animal Models of Inherited and Acquired Birth Defects

Dear Colleagues,

Birth defects are disorders that exists at or before birth, regardless of cause. Although ~4000 different kinds of birth defects, of varying severities, have been described, most have unknown etiologies. Generally, congenital birth defects are thought to be caused by a combination of insults, including genetic susceptibilities, metabolic anomalies, toxic environment and maternal lifestyle influences. Both inherited and acquired defects are present at birth, but recent progress is beginning to uncover the underlying in utero genetic causes of numerous inherited birth defects. A great deal of this rapid advancement is due to the myriad of transgenic animal systems being used to model both structural and functional birth defects regularly observed in the clinic. This Special Issue of the Journal of Developmental Biology will provide an overview of the current standing of this large multidisciplinary research field. Contributions can be reviews, as well as research papers, covering individual and comparative transgenic models of inherited and acquired congenital birth defect pathogenesis.

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Developmental Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Embryonic and fetal anomalies
• Structural and functional phenotypes
• In utero and neonatal lethality
• Transgenic animal models
• Inherited and acquired birth defects