Mechanistic philosophies of development: Theodor Boveri and Eric H. Davidson

Caianiello, Silvia

doi:10.1016/j.margen.2018.09.009

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 87 publications

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“…Despite the precise ordering of mitotic and meiotic figures, Driesch considered that correlative differentiation cannot rely on the internal determination of a complex nuclear structure but rather on the increasing complexity of a three-cornered inductive network between (1) centers of formative stimuli that are specifically localized within the embryo, (2) the protoplasm of each cell and (3) its nucleus (Churchill 1969;Caianiello 2019). He postulated that all nuclei are heterogeneous mixtures of ferments that contain all necessary Anlagen for development.…”

Section: Driesch's Induction Model and Its Empirical Falsificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Heuristic Value of Hans Driesch’s Vitalism

Bolduc

2023

History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences

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In the first half of the twentieth century the harshest critics of Hans Driesch’s vitalistic theory depicted it as an animistic view driven by metaphysical moods, while others merely saw it as a barren hypothesis. In the last decades the heuristic value of vitalistic principles was nevertheless suggested. In this chapter I examine the epistemic role of Driesch’s critical vitalism in the progress of embryology. I first show that it did not contribute to falsify mechanical explanations of development such as Wilhelm Roux’s mosaic theory and Driesch’s own embryonic induction model. However, Driesch’s argumentation for vitalism led to the final formulation of the most challenging developmental explanandum of the twentieth century: the harmonious-equipotential system (HES). I point out how major explanans like Charles M. Child’s metabolic gradients, Hans Spemann’s induction fields and Lewis Wolpert’s positional information were conceived as promising answers to Driesch’s problem.

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Section: Driesch's Induction Model and Its Empirical Falsificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Heuristic Value of Hans Driesch’s Vitalism

Bolduc

2023

History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences

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Thinking in 3 dimensions: philosophies of the microenvironment in organoids and organs-on-chip

Caianiello

Bertolaso

Militello

2023

HPLS

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Encounters across networks: Windows into principles of genomic regulation

Rothenberg

2019

Marine Genomics

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Gene regulatory networks account for the ability of the genome to program development in complex multi-cellular organisms. Such networks are based on principles of gene regulation by combinations of transcription factors that bind to specific cis-regulatory DNA sites to activate transcription. These cis-regulatory regions mediate logic processing at each network node, enabling progressive increases in organismal complexity with development. Gene regulatory network explanations of development have been shown to account for patterning and cell type diversification in fly and sea urchin embryonic systems, where networks are characterized by fast coupling between transcriptional inputs and changes in target gene transcription rates, and crucial cis-regulatory elements are concentrated relatively close to the protein coding sequences of the target genes, thus facilitating their identification. Stem cell-based development in post-embryonic mammalian systems also depends on gene networks, but differs from the fly and sea urchin systems. First, the number of regulatory elements per gene and the distances between regulatory elements and the genes they control are considerably larger, forcing searches via genome-wide transcription factor binding surveys rather than functional assays. Second, the intrinsic timing of network state transitions can be slowed considerably by the need to undo stem-cell chromatin configurations, which presumably add stability to stem-cell states but retard responses to transcription factor changes during differentiation. The dispersed, partially redundant cisregulatory systems controlling gene expression and the slow state transition kinetics in these systems already reveal new insights and opportunities to extend understanding of the repertoire of gene networks and regulatory system logic.

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Mechanistic philosophies of development: Theodor Boveri and Eric H. Davidson

Cited by 4 publications

References 87 publications

On the Heuristic Value of Hans Driesch’s Vitalism

On the Heuristic Value of Hans Driesch’s Vitalism

Thinking in 3 dimensions: philosophies of the microenvironment in organoids and organs-on-chip

Encounters across networks: Windows into principles of genomic regulation

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