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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Mapping the Emergent Spatial Organization of Mammalian Cells using Micropatterns and Quantitative Imaging
Published on: April 30, 2019
Evolution of patterning
Konstantina Filippopoulou1, Nikolaos Konstantinides1
1Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Institut Jacques Monod, France.
Abstract:
Developing tissues are patterned in space and time; this enables them to differentiate their cell types and form complex structures to support different body plans. Although space and time are two independent entities, there are many examples of spatial patterns that originate from temporal ones. The most prominent example is the expression of the genes hunchback, Krüppel, pdm, and castor, which are expressed temporally in the neural stem cells of the Drosophila ventral nerve cord and spatially along the anteroposterior axis of the blastoderm stage embryo. In this Viewpoint, we investigate the relationship between space and time in specific examples of spatial and temporal patterns with the aim of gaining insight into the evolutionary history of patterning.
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