Hypothesis
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Tissue Tectonics and the Multi-Scale Regulation of Developmental Timing
Version 1
: Received: 12 June 2020 / Approved: 14 June 2020 / Online: 14 June 2020 (12:29:45 CEST)
How to cite: Busby, L.; Steventon, B. Tissue Tectonics and the Multi-Scale Regulation of Developmental Timing. Preprints 2020, 2020060168. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202006.0168.v1 Busby, L.; Steventon, B. Tissue Tectonics and the Multi-Scale Regulation of Developmental Timing. Preprints 2020, 2020060168. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202006.0168.v1
Abstract
Development encompasses processes that occur at multiple length-scales, includ- ing gene regulatory interactions, cell movements and reorganisation, cell signalling and growth. It is essential that the timing of events in all of these different processes are coordinated to generate well patterned tissues and organs. However, how the timing of intrinsic cell state changes is coordinated with events at the multi-tissue and whole organism level is unknown. Here, we argue that an important mechanism which accounts for integration of timing across levels of organisation is provided by tissue tectonics: i.e. how morphogenetic events driving tissue shape change result in the relative displacement of signalling and responding tissues and coordinate devel- opmental timing across scales. In doing so, tissue tectonics provides a mechanism by which the cell specification events intrinsic to cells can be modulated by the temporal exposure to extracellular signals. This exposure is in turn regulated by higher-order properties of the embryo such as their physical properties, rates of growth and the combination of dynamic cell behaviours impacting tissue morphogenesis. Tissue tec- tonics creates a downward flow of information from higher to lower levels of biological organisation, providing an instance of downward causation in development.
Supplementary and Associated Material
https://steventonlab.wordpress.com/: lab website
Keywords
pattern formation; morphogenesis; systems biology; embryology
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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