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Morphological Coordination: A Common Ancestral Function Unifying Neural and Non-Neural Signaling
Chris Fields1, Johanna Bischof2, Michael Levin2
123 Rue des Lavandières, Caunes Minervois, France.
Physiology (Bethesda, Md.)
|December 5, 2019
Summary
The evolution of nervous systems originated from ancient cell communication mechanisms coordinating body-axis symmetry. This sheds light on early animal development and offers new approaches for regenerative medicine and cancer research.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Developmental biology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Nervous systems traditionally coordinate sensing and behavior for whole organisms.
- The evolutionary origins of nervous system information processing remain a key question.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the ancestral function of cell-cell communication systems in body-axis symmetry coordination.
- To reframe the understanding of nervous system evolution from early multicellular life.
Main Methods:
- Review of evidence from evolutionary, developmental, and regenerative biology.
- Comparative analysis of body-axis symmetry coordination mechanisms across different animal phyla.
Main Results:
- Pre-neural and neural cell communication systems ancestrally coordinated cell division and differentiation for body-axis symmetry.
- This coordination evolved from external (trophisms) to internal (body-centered) coordinates.
- Nervous system control of animal behavior evolved from ancient mechanisms regulating cell behavior during morphogenesis.
Conclusions:
- Nervous system functions evolved from ancient mechanisms coordinating morphogenesis and body-axis symmetry.
- Understanding these origins informs research in embryology, cancer, and regenerative medicine.
- Bioelectrically mediated computation has ancient, non-neural origins relevant to synthetic biology.