Two-dimensional spatial patterning in developmental systems.
Multicellular organisms produce complex tissues with specialized cell types. During animal development, numerous cell-cell interactions shape tissue patterning through mechanisms involving contact-dependent cell migration and ligand-receptor-mediated lateral inhibition. Owing to the presence of cell walls, plant cells neither migrate nor undergo apoptosis as a means to correct for mis-specified cells. How can plants generate functional tissue patterns? This review aims to deduce fundamental principles of pattern formation through examining two-dimensional (2-D) spatial tissue patterning in plants and animals. Turing's mathematical framework will be introduced and applied to classic examples of de novo 2-D patterning in both animal and plant systems. By comparing their regulatory circuits, new insights into the similarities and differences of the basic principles governing tissue patterning will be discussed.
Department of Biology, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ktorii@u.washington.edu
Keiko U
KU
Torii
D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D008954:Models, Biological; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000378:metabolism