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From Hydra to Vertebrates: Models for the Transition from Radial- to Bilateral-Symmetric Body Plans

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Pattern Formation in Morphogenesis

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Mathematics ((PROM,volume 15))

Abstract

The development of a higher organism needs many coupled pattern-forming reactions. Crucial are interactions in which a local self-enhancing reaction is coupled to an antagonistic reaction of longer range. Using the pattern of head, tentacle and foot formation in the small freshwater polyp hydra as a model system it is shown (1) how polar pattern can emerge; (2) how a polar pattern can be maintained during substantial growth; (3) how structures next to each other can be generated and (4) how two organizing regions can be forced to appear at a maximum distance from each other at the two terminal poles. The understanding of the organization along the single axis of the radial-symmetric hydra was a key to understand the evolution of bilateral-symmetric body plans. Many observations can be explained under the assumption that the body of hydra-like ancestors evolved into the brain of higher organisms, that generation of a midline was a subtle patterning process for which evolution has found different solutions, that the ancestral hydra-type organizer became the organizer for the AP axis in higher organisms, and that the trunk is a later evolutionary addition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Spemannstr. 35, Tübingen, 72076, Germany

    Hans Meinhardt

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  1. Hans Meinhardt
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Correspondence to Hans Meinhardt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica, MIRIAM, Università Milano-Bicocca, Via Saldini 50, Milano, 20133, Italy

    Vincenzo Capasso

  2. Études Scientifiques, Institut des Hautes, route des Chartres 35, Bures-sur-Yvette, 91440, France

    Misha Gromov

  3. Cancer Institut Andre Lwoff, CNRS FRE 3239, Laboratoire Epigenetique et, rue Guy Moquet 7, Villejuif, 94800, France

    Annick Harel-Bellan

  4. Cancer Institut Andre Lwoff, CNRS FRE 3239, Laboratoire Epigenetique et, rue Guy Moquet 7, Villejuif, 94800, France

    Nadya Morozova

  5. Cancer Institut Andre Lwoff, CNRS FRE 3239, Laboratoire Epigenetique et, rue Guy Môquet, Villejuif, 94801, France

    Linda Louise Pritchard

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Meinhardt, H. (2013). From Hydra to Vertebrates: Models for the Transition from Radial- to Bilateral-Symmetric Body Plans. In: Capasso, V., Gromov, M., Harel-Bellan, A., Morozova, N., Pritchard, L. (eds) Pattern Formation in Morphogenesis. Springer Proceedings in Mathematics, vol 15. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20164-6_17

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