An early stage in the development of the embryo that follows the blastocyst stage, during which the three germ layers, ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm are formed by the process of gastrulation.

The developmental stage that follows BLASTULA or BLASTOCYST. It is characterized by the morphogenetic cell movements including invagination, ingression, and involution. Gastrulation begins with the formation of the PRIMITIVE STREAK, and ends with the formation of three GERM LAYERS, the body plan of the mature organism.

Gastrula, early multicellular embryo, composed of two or more germinal layers of cells from which the various organs later derive. The gastrula develops from the hollow, single-layered ball of cells called a blastula which itself is the product of the repeated cell division, or cleavage, of a...