The chemical basis of morphogenesis: reaction-diffusion systems in biological pattern formation
By
Turing, Alan Mathison
Good intentions, undercooked execution. The bake is missing.
Summary
This article presents the theoretical foundation for reaction-diffusion systems in biological pattern formation. It proposes that morphogens—chemical substances that react and diffuse through tissue—can explain morphogenesis (the development of form and structure in organisms). The paper suggests that initially homogeneous systems can develop patterns through instabilities triggered by random disturbances, focusing on the mathematically tractable case of an isolated ring of cells.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIt is suggested that a system of chemical substances, called morphogens, reacting together and diffusing through a tissue, is adequate to account for the main phenomena of morphogenesis.
Such a system, although it may originally be quite homogeneous, may later develop a pattern or structure due to an instability of the homogeneous equilibrium, which is triggered off by random disturbances.
Such reaction-diffusion systems are considered in some detail in the case of an isolated ring of cells, a mathematically convenient, though biologically unusual system.
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