During early amphibian development, neuroectoderm cells initially have not committed irreversibly to a neural fate. Tissue transplantation experiments provide valuable insights into how developmental potential and plasticity change during gastrulation stages.

When prospective neuroectoderm from an early amphibian gastrula is transplanted into the prospective epidermal region of a recipient early gastrula embryo, the donor cells do not maintain their neural fate. Instead, they respond to the new environmental signals and differentiate as epidermal cells. This phenomenon reflects the conditional specification and developmental plasticity characteristic of early gastrula cells, which have not yet undergone determination. The fate of these cells depends heavily on their environment and positional cues.

As the embryo progresses toward later gastrulation stages, prospective neuroectoderm cells become determined and retain their neural identity when transplanted, indicating an irreversible commitment to neural fate.

Based on this understanding, the transplanted prospective neuroectoderm from an early gastrula will give rise to:

(2) epidermis