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Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science pp 1–34Cite as

Biological Development and Evolution, Complexity and Self-Organization in

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Definition of the Subject

Much work over the past half-century in developmental and evolutionary biology has focused on a subset of an organism’s components, its genes. The hierarchical regulatory relationships among genes have been a major emphasis in studies in development, while the variation of genes has played a corresponding role in evolutionary studies. In the past decade, however, investigators have increasingly considered the part played by physical and dynamical properties of cells and tissues, and their molecular components, in producing biological characteristics over the course of ontogeny and phylogeny. Living cells and tissues encompass numerous interpenetrating multicomponent systems in which dynamical interactions among intracellular gene products, metabolites, ions, etc., and interactions between cells, directly via their adhesive surfaces, or indirectly via secreted extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules or diffusible signaling molecules (“morphogens”), generate...

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Abbreviations

Biochemical Oscillation:

The variation in the concentration of a given molecule in principle either in space or time, although typically the term is reserved for the latter.

Canalization:

An evolved property of developmental pathways that permits the robust generation of a phenotype in the face of perturbations. The perturbations can be those internal to the organism, in the form of gene mutation or developmental noise, or external to it, in the form of environmental variability.

Differential Adhesion:

The capacity of cells to adhere to each other in a cell type-dependent manner. The strength of adhesion between two cells of type A typically differs from that between cells of type B. This may be due to differences either in the number or type of cell adhesion molecules.

Differential Gene Expression:

The main regulatory basis of cell differentiation. Cells of different type in a given organism carry the same set of genes (the genome) but vary in which of these genes are active, that is, expressed.

Reaction-Diffusion Mechanism:

A conceptual framework for describing spatiotemporal pattern formation in a system of several interacting and diffusing chemical species.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York Medical College, Valhalla, USA

    Stuart A. Newman

  2. University of Missouri, Columbia, USA

    Gabor Forgacs

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  1. Stuart A. Newman
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  2. Gabor Forgacs
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Correspondence to Stuart A. Newman .

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  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Newman, S.A., Forgacs, G. (2013). Biological Development and Evolution, Complexity and Self-Organization in. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_35-3

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