First Signals
The Evolution of Multicellular Development
Seiten
2001
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-07038-4 (ISBN)
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-07038-4 (ISBN)
This work investigates a moment in evolution when development was at its most basic - the moment when signalling between cells began. Using slime mould as an example, the author seeks to analyze development at a primitive stage and gain an insight into how early mulitcellular development began.
The enormous recent success of molecular developmental biology has yielded a vast amount of new information on the details of development. So much so that we risk losing sight of the underlying principles that apply to all development. To cut through this thicket, John Tyler Bonner ponders a moment in evolution when development was at its most basic--the moment when signaling between cells began. Although multicellularity arose numerous times, most of those events happened many millions of years ago. Many of the details of development that we see today, even in simple organisms, accrued over a long evolutionary timeline, and the initial events are obscured. The relatively uncomplicated and easy-to-grow cellular slime molds offer a unique opportunity to analyze development at a primitive stage and perhaps gain insight into how early multicellular development might have started. Through slime molds, Bonner seeks a picture of the first elements of communication between cells. He asks what we have learned by looking at their developmental biology, including recent advances in our molecular understanding of the process.
He then asks what is the most elementary way that polarity and pattern formation can be achieved. To find the answer, he uses models, including mathematical ones, to generate insights into how cell-to-cell cooperation might have originated. Students and scholars in the blossoming field of the evolution of development, as well as evolutionary biologists generally, will be interested in what Bonner has to say about the origins of multicellular development--and thus of the astounding biological complexity we now observe--and how best to study it.
The enormous recent success of molecular developmental biology has yielded a vast amount of new information on the details of development. So much so that we risk losing sight of the underlying principles that apply to all development. To cut through this thicket, John Tyler Bonner ponders a moment in evolution when development was at its most basic--the moment when signaling between cells began. Although multicellularity arose numerous times, most of those events happened many millions of years ago. Many of the details of development that we see today, even in simple organisms, accrued over a long evolutionary timeline, and the initial events are obscured. The relatively uncomplicated and easy-to-grow cellular slime molds offer a unique opportunity to analyze development at a primitive stage and perhaps gain insight into how early multicellular development might have started. Through slime molds, Bonner seeks a picture of the first elements of communication between cells. He asks what we have learned by looking at their developmental biology, including recent advances in our molecular understanding of the process.
He then asks what is the most elementary way that polarity and pattern formation can be achieved. To find the answer, he uses models, including mathematical ones, to generate insights into how cell-to-cell cooperation might have originated. Students and scholars in the blossoming field of the evolution of development, as well as evolutionary biologists generally, will be interested in what Bonner has to say about the origins of multicellular development--and thus of the astounding biological complexity we now observe--and how best to study it.
John Tyler Bonner is George M. Moffett Professor of Biology Ementus at Princeton University. His many books include Sixty Years in Biology. Essays on Evolution and Development, Life Cycles: Reflections of on Evolutionary Biologist. The Evolution of Complexity by Means of Natural Selection, and The Evolution of Culture in Animals (all Princeton).
Preface ix Chapter 1: Introduction 3 Chapter 2: From Embryology to Developmental Biology 9 Chapter 3: The Origin of Multicellularity 19 Chapter 4: Size and Evolution 49 Chapter 5: The Evolution of Signaling 63 Chapter 6: The Basic Elements of Multicellular Development 75 Chapter 7: Development in the Cellular Slime Molds 93 Chapter 8: Conclusion 131 Bibliography 135 Index 143
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 23.1.2001 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 30 line illus. |
| Verlagsort | New Jersey |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 140 x 216 mm |
| Gewicht | 170 g |
| Themenwelt | Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution |
| Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Genetik / Molekularbiologie | |
| Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Zellbiologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-691-07038-5 / 0691070385 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-691-07038-4 / 9780691070384 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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