From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Morphogenesis (from the Greek morphê shape and genesis creation) is one of three fundamental aspects of developmental biology along with the control of cell growth and cellular differentiation. Morphogenesis is concerned with the shapes of tissues, organs and entire organisms and the positions of the various specialized cell types. Cell growth and differentiation can take place in cell culture or inside of tumor cell masses without the normal morphogenesis that is seen in an intact organism. The study of morphogenesis involves an attempt to understand the processes that control the organized spatial distribution of cells that arises during the embryonic development of an organism and that give rise to the characteristic forms of tissues, organs, and overall body anatomy. In the human embryo, the change from a cluster of nearly identical cells at the blastula stage to a post-gastrulation embryo with structured tissues and organs is controlled by the genetic "program" and can be modified by environmental factors.

The term morphogenesis can also be used to describe the development of unicellular life forms that do not have an embryonic stage in their life cycle, or to refer to the evolution of a body structure within a taxonomic group. Morphogenetic responses may be induced in organisms by hormones, or by environmental chemicals ranging from substances produced by other organisms to toxic chemicals or radionuclides released as pollutants, and other plants.

Some of the earliest ideas on how physical and mathematical processes and constraints affect biological growth were written by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson and Alan Turing. These works postulated the presence of chemical signals and physico-chemical processes such as diffusion, activation, and deactivation in cellular and organismic growth. The fuller understanding of the mechanisms involved in actual organisms required the discovery of DNA and the development of molecular biology and biochemistry.

Several types of molecules are particularly important during morphogenesis. Morphogens are soluble molecules that can diffuse and carry signals that control cell differentiation decisions in a concentration-dependent fashion. Morphogens typically act through binding to specific protein receptors. An important class of molecules involved in morphogenesis are transcription factor proteins that determine the fate of cells by interacting with DNA. These can be coded for by master regulatory genes and either activate or deactivate the transcription of other genes; in turn, these secondary gene products can regulate the expression of still other genes in a regulatory cascade. Another class of molecules involved in morphogenesis are molecules that control cell adhesion. For example, during gastrulation, clumps of stem cells switch off their cell-to-cell adhesion, become migratory, and take up new positions within an embryo where they again activate specific cell adhesion proteins and form new tissues and organs. Several examples that illustrate the roles of morphogens, transcription factors and cell adhesion molecules in morphogenesis are discussed below.

Morphogenesis arises because of changes in the cellular structure. Certain cell types sort out. The ability of cells to do this comes from differential changes in cellular structure. There are two types of cells epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells. By changing from one cell type to another, cells are able to move around and associate with other like cells.

Cells sort out in different layers due to the differential adhesion model or thermodynamic model. This model states that cells sort based upon differences in adhesion between the cells. Cells that move to the center of a mixed aggregate of cells have the strongest adhesion.

The molecules responsible for adhesion are called cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). Several types of cell adhesion molecules are known and one major class of these molecules are cadherins. Cadherins are a calcium-dependent transmembrane protein that connects to the actin cytoskeleton through binding to trimeric proteins made up of a, b, and g catenins. Cadherins bind to other cadherins in a like-like manner (E-cadherins bind to other E-cadherins) or homophilic interactions.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is involved with separating tissues, providing structural support or providing a structure for cells to migrate on. Collagen, laminin, and fibronectin are the major molecules, and are secreted and assembled into sheets, fibers, and gels. Multisubunit transmembrane receptors called integrins are used to bind to the ECM. Integrins bind extracellularly to fibronectin, laminin, or other ECM components, and intracellularly to microfilament-binding proteins a-actinin and talin to link the cytoskeleton with the outside. Integrins also serve as receptors to trigger signal transduction cascades when binding to the ECM.