The algorithmic nature of a reaction-diffusion development process

Abstract

An example is given of how steady state, reaction-diffusion concentration patterns can be used to generate a developmental sequence of linear arrays of cells. The generative process shows a distinct local character which is regular enough to be described algorithmically and which is suggestive of the successive regionalization which occurs in actual development. Two algorithmic descriptions are provided: one as the composition of two Markov normal algorithms, and the other in terms of a new kind, called a segment algorithm.