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Morphogenesis, morphology and men: pattern formation from embryo to mind

Celebrating Alan Turing’s centenary

  • 25TH ANNIVERSARY VOLUME A FAUSTIAN EXCHANGE: WHAT IS IT TO BE HUMAN IN THE ERA OF UBIQUITOUS TECHNOLOGY?
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Abstract

In 1952, Alan Turing published his last work on the concept of embryonic morphogenesis, propounding a computational framework for pattern formation within the developing embryo. This concept of morphogenesis and the concept of embryo pattern formation based on chemical diffusion patterns were corroborated with the discovery of the Homeobox or Hox genes. In the following decades, Hox gene research has expanded and is now shown to underlie the variety of morphological novelties that we experience in nature, the patterning of structural aspects of different organs including the brain and also mutant animals that may in the future give rise to novel speciation. Turing had the foresight and vision and with his work created the field of computational biology and mathematical modeling in biological systems. In this paper, we will discuss the concept of Hox genes, their role in patterning the embryo, how it relates to Turing’s concept of morphogenesis and what further insights they may provide.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Dr. Victoria Vesna for inviting me to the conference and Dr. Yuval Marton for his comments on the paper.

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Correspondence to Siddharth Ramakrishnan.

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Ramakrishnan, S. Morphogenesis, morphology and men: pattern formation from embryo to mind. AI & Soc 28, 549–552 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0504-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-013-0504-9

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