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A living cell's primary tasks of obtaining, transforming, and using energy to do work may seem simple. However, the second law of thermodynamics explains why these tasks are harder than they appear. None of the energy transfers in the universe are completely efficient. In every energy transfer, some amount of energy is lost in a form that is unusable. In most cases, this form is heat energy. Thermodynamically, heat energy is defined as the energy transferred from one system to another that...
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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Cell-cell Fusion of Genome Edited Cell Lines for Perturbation of Cellular Structure and Function
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Terminal addition in a cellular world.

J S Torday1, William B Miller2

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA 90502-2006, United States.

Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
|December 24, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Terminal Addition, a continuous process of cellular-environmental interaction, drives evolutionary development by environmental induction of cell-cell signaling adjustments. This perspective reframes phenotypes and offers insights into chronic diseases as

Keywords:
Cell-cell signalingEvolutionOntogenyPhylogenyTerminal addition

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Developmental Biology
  • Cellular Biology
  • Environmental Science

Background:

  • Evolutionary development traditionally views development as internally driven.
  • Terminal Addition proposes a continuous historical process of cellular-environmental complementarity.
  • Existing frameworks lack a unified understanding of environmental influences on developmental pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To reframe Terminal Addition as a continuous historical process within evolutionary development.
  • To identify evolutionary terminal additions as environmental induction of cell-cell signaling adjustments.
  • To reconcile evolutionary development with Terminal Addition through integrated biological perspectives.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of evolutionary development through the lens of cellular-environmental complementarity.
  • Identification of environmental induction of episodic adjustments to cell-cell signaling patterns.
  • Focus on cell-cell signaling, molecular phylogenies, and epigenetic phenomena in eukaryotes.

Main Results:

  • Terminal Addition is characterized by environmental induction of cell-cell signaling adjustments, leading to diverse developmental forms.
  • Phenotypes arise from cellular niche construction in response to environmental stresses and epigenetic impacts.
  • Terminal Addition operates on a logic of cellular needs confronting environmental challenges across space-time.

Conclusions:

  • Terminal Addition plays a crucial role in evolutionary development by integrating cellular and environmental factors.
  • A unified understanding requires focusing on cell-cell signaling, molecular phylogenies, and epigenetics.
  • Chronic diseases may represent a form of 'reverse evolution' of these developmental processes.