Modelling Morphogenesis Examples from Sponges, Sea Anemones, and Corals

This book focuses on organisms like sponges, sea anemones, and corals. One of the most fundamental questions in biology is how a fertilized egg develops into a complete organism during morphogenesis. Although this is a longstanding question even today there only exist very few concrete insights into the mechanism of morphogenesis. A major complication is that the genetic information is encoded on the molecular level. The molecules exist on a spatial scale of ångströms and change on a temporal scale of nano seconds. The authors use a combination of biological observations and simulations models. Simulation models form an important tool to organize the frequently scattered biological observations and to understand how the very different levels of observation are linked to each other and how the different processes are changing in space and time. There are several reasons for selecting sponges, sea anemones, and corals. First, these organisms are absolutely beautiful, and this has always been a major motivation for the author to do this research. The other reason is that these organisms are characterized by a relatively simple body plan, where it seems to be feasible to develop a simulation model of morphogenesis capturing growth and form in space and time. Some of the model organisms the authors have used as a case study, like the starlet sea anemone (a non-calcifying relative of the coral) have several remarkable properties. The gene regulatory system works in a similar way in mice and humans and can be captured with partial differential equations. In many other model organisms, this is not straight forward at all. The body plan of the starlet sea anemone and cell division pattern is relatively simple, and it is doable to develop a simulation model of this process.