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Organs

Most of your body's organs grow from the middle layer of cells in the developing embryo - the mesoderm. Your kidneys, for example, develop from cells that stick together to form a sheet. These sheets can either stay as a single layer, as in the tiny tubes of the kidney, or become multilayered. To start growing a complex organ such as a kidney, control genes tell certain cells from the mesoderm to turn into epithelia.

Development of the kidney in an embryo.
Development of the kidney in an embryo.

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