Versatile system cores as a conceptual basis for generality in cell and developmental biology

The discovery of general principles underlying the complexity and diversity of cellular and developmental systems is a central and long-standing aim of biology. While new technologies collect data at an ever-accelerating rate, there is growing concern that conceptual progress is not keeping pace. We contend that this is due to a paucity of conceptual frameworks that support meaningful generalizations. This led us to develop the core and periphery (C&P) hypothesis, which posits that many biological systems can be decomposed into a highly versatile core with a large behavioral repertoire and a specific periphery that configures said core to perform one particular function. Versatile cores tend to be widely reused across biology, which confers generality to theories describing them. Here, we introduce this concept and describe examples at multiple scales, including Turing patterning, actomyosin dynamics, multi-cellular morphogenesis, and vertebrate gastrulation. We also sketch its evolutionary basis and discuss key implications and open questions. We propose that the C&P hypothesis could unlock new avenues of conceptual progress in mesoscale biology.