![]() The activator, because it diffuses slowly, concentrates and acts locally, whereas the inhibitor diffuses quickly but can only act over a limited distance, leading to a standing wave pattern of activation and the generation of a long-range, periodic tissue pattern ( Fig. In a nutshell, if a cell produces two morphogens with different rates of diffusion, one an activator and the other an inhibitor, and the first morphogen stimulates both its own production as well as that of its inhibitor, the two could give rise to a stable equilibrium with well-defined regions of activation and inhibition. In The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis, Turing (1952) formulated the conditions in which cells, essentially as autonomous machines processing and secreting diffusible morphogens according to certain rules, could give rise to the repeating patterns we observe in nature. ![]() ![]() Inspired by this work, Alan Turing devised a theoretical framework that bridged the inorganic world of chemical reactions and physical law and the world of biological pattern formation. ![]()
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