primitive knot

Organizer for gastrulation in vertebrates. The primitive knot starts as a regional knot of cells that forms on the blastodisc immediately anterior to where the outer layer of cells will begin to migrate inwards - an area known as the primitive streak. Posterior to the node is the primitive pit, where the cells of the epiblast (the upper layer of embryonic cells) initially begin to invaginate. This invagination expands posteriorly into the primitive groove as the cells layers continue to move into the space between the embryonic cells and the yolk. This differentiates the embryo into the germ layers - endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. The primitive knot migrates posteriorly as gastrulation proceeds, eventually being absorbed into the tail bud.[WP]. the regional thickening of cells at the rostral tip of the vertebrate primitive streak through which gastrulating cells migrate anteriorally to form tissues in the future head and neck; this region organizes the formation of the three embryonic layers and establishes the longitudinal axis and the polarity of the embryo[MP].