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February 20, 2012

Fearsome asymmetry

Nature Genetics publishes work by researchers from King's College London showing how how biological patterns such as tiger stripes or leopard spots are formed.

The findings provide evidence to support a theory first suggested in the 1950s by famous code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, whose centenary falls this year. He put forward the idea that regular repeating patterns in biological systems are generated by a pair of morphogens that work together as an 'activator' and 'inhibitor'.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 20, 2012 08:47 AM