Tsikolia Nikoloz
Institut fur Biochemie, Medizinische Fakultat, Universitat Leipzig, Germany.
Int J Dev Biol. 2006;50(2-3):333-40. doi: 10.1387/ijdb.052053nt.
Development of an organism is a multi-dimensional process leading to the generation of complex species-specific structures. This specificity suggests machine-like organisation. The uneven distribution (gradient) of soluble substances (morphogens) and specific receptor-ligand interactions are known to cause differential gene expression. Therefore gradients of morphogens are used as a causal explanation of developmental processes. However each attempt to describe development causally should take into account both the local fine organisation and global robustness of morphogenesis. The classical view of the role of morphogens will be critically considered and possible alternative proposed. The core idea of my proposal is that the main function of morphogenetic substances could be a context dependent modification of cell behaviour. Both history and different features of morphogenetic fields create the framework for the activity of morphogenes.
生物体的发育是一个多维度过程，会导致生成复杂的物种特异性结构。这种特异性表明存在类似机器的组织。已知可溶性物质（形态发生素）的不均匀分布（梯度）以及特定的受体 - 配体相互作用会导致基因表达差异。因此，形态发生素梯度被用作发育过程的因果解释。然而，每一次因果描述发育的尝试都应同时考虑形态发生的局部精细组织和整体稳健性。将批判性地审视形态发生素作用的经典观点，并提出可能的替代观点。我提议的核心观点是，形态发生物质的主要功能可能是对细胞行为进行依赖于环境的修饰。形态发生场的历史和不同特征都为形态发生基因的活动创造了框架。
