IMAGE: The evolution of physical morphogenesis: cell-like structures change from all blue, to red and blue, to structures of different sizes. (Credit: Fraden lab/Brandeis)
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EXPERIMENTS VERIFY ALAN TURING’S THEORY OF MORPHOGENESIS
British mathematician Alan Turing (1912-1954) is known for his ground-breaking work in computer science and for his role in breaking the secret codes used by Germany in World War II.
In 1952, in his only paper on biology, Turing proposed a theory of biological morphogenesis through chemistry; describing how identical cells differentiate into an organism with its own shape.
60 years after Turing’s death, researchers from Brandeis University and the University of Pittsburgh have provided experimental evidence that validates Turing’s theory in cell-like structures (chemical cells). The results are important not only for biology but also in materials science.
Leah Burrows-Brandeis writes on Futurity:
Turing was the first to offer an explanation of morphogenesis through chemistry. He theorized that identical biological cells differentiate and change shape through a process called intercellular reaction-diffusion.
In this model, a system of chemicals react with each other and diffuse across a space—say between cells in an embryo. These chemical reactions need an inhibitory agent, to suppress the reaction, and an excitatory agent, to activate the reaction. This chemical reaction, diffused across an embryo, will create patterns of chemically different cells.
At Brandeis, Seth Fraden, professor of physics, and Irv Epstein, professor of chemistry, created rings of synthetic, cell-like structures with activating and inhibiting chemical reactions to test Turing’s model.
Just as Turing theorized, the once identical structures—now chemically different—also began to change in size due to osmosis.
Based on a paper published in PNAS, a story posted by Leah Burrows-Brandeis at Futurity, March 11, 2014, and reporting on PhysOrg
