A plausible molecular interpretation of the polar coordinate model with a centripetal degeneracy of distinctive field values.
I have attempted to interpret, in molecular terms, the polar coordinate model for epimorphic regulation, revised to accommodate the rigorously-held constraints of the polar coordinate system (Sibatani, 1981). If the angular coordinate of the field value is represented by a physical variable in the form of a proportion function, R, to be defined as the intensity ratio of two morphogen curves then R can stay unchanged along any radius mapped on the actual space, while the intensity of the two morphogens together approaches zero towards the field centre, satisfying the requirement of the centripetal degeneracy of the distinctive angular field values. Implications of this idea are discussed in theoretical and molecular terms as well as in respect of interpretations of some experimental data.
D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication; D004330:Drosophila / Q000254:growth & development; D005121:Extremities / Q000254:growth & development; D006133:Growth Substances / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009024:Morphogenesis
D006133:Growth Substances