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Heredity and self-organization: partners in the generation and evolution of phenotypes
Nicolas Malagon1, Ellen Larsen1
1Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, OH, Canada.
Abstract:
In this review we examine the role of self-organization in the context of the evolution of morphogenesis. We provide examples to show that self-organized behavior is ubiquitous, and suggest it is a mechanism that can permit high levels of biodiversity without the invention of ever-increasing numbers of genes. We also examine the implications of self-organization for understanding the "internal descriptions" of organisms and the concept of a genotype-phenotype map.
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