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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Probing the Roles of Physical Forces in Early Chick Embryonic Morphogenesis
Published on: June 5, 2018
Turing's next steps: the mechanochemical basis of morphogenesis
Jonathon Howard1, Stephan W Grill, Justin S Bois
1Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany. howard@mpi-cbg.de
Abstract:
Nearly 60 years ago, Alan Turing showed theoretically how two chemical species, termed morphogens, diffusing and reacting with each other can generate spatial patterns. Diffusion plays a crucial part in transporting chemical signals through space to establish the length scale of the pattern. When coupled to chemical reactions, mechanical processes - forces and flows generated by motor proteins - can also define length scales and provide a mechanochemical basis for morphogenesis. forces and flows generated by motor proteins - can also define length scales and provide a mechanochemical basis for morphogenesis.
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