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A theory of biological pattern formation
- The paper addresses the formation of striking patterns within originally near-homogenous tissue, the process prototypical for embryology, and represented in particularly puristic form by cut sections of hydra regenerating a complete animal with head and foot. Essential requirements are autocatalytic, self-enhancing activation, combined with inhibitory or depletion effects of wider range - “lateral inhibition”. Not only de-novo-pattern formation, but also well known, striking features of developmental regulation such as induction, inhibition, and proportion regulation can be explained on this basis. The theory provides a mathematical recipe for the construction of molecular models with criteria for the necessary non-linear interactions. It has since been widely applied to different developmental processes.
Author: | Alfred Gierer, H. Meinhardt |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:kobv:b4360-100751 |
URL: | http://edoc.bbaw.de/oa/articles/reRszqoDHVNo/PDF/23VQhYb8JGA8o.pdf |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2006/10/31 |
Publishing Institution: | Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften |
Release Date: | 2006/10/31 |
Tag: | autocatalysis; hydra regeneration; lateral inhibition; pattern formation |
Source: | Kybernetik : Zeitschrift für Nachrichtenübertragung, Nachrichtenverarbeitung, Steuerung u. Regelung im Organismus u. in Automaten ; 1 (12), S. 30-39 |
Institutes: | BBAW / Veröffentlichungen von Akademiemitgliedern |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 000 Wissenschaft, Allgemeines / 00 Informatik, Wissen, Systeme / 000 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke |