Key question
How do cells make a body?
Check your understanding
Find an example, an application and a limit. Explain the concept without using its name, then compare your explanation with a primary source.
Loading your learning…
Claims to examine
Anatomical patterning requires explanations across molecular, cellular and tissue scales.
Follow a learning route
How do cells make a body?
Connect reaction–diffusion, positional information, mechanics and bioelectric control of anatomical form.
Reading connections
The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis
Physical Biology of the Cell
Molecular bioelectricity: how endogenous voltage potentials control cell behavior and instruct pattern regulation in vivo
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Top-down models in biology: explanation and control of complex living systems above the molecular level