MadSci Network: Development
Query:

Re: Why causes mammals to have stripes versus spots?

Date: Sat Nov 14 17:10:08 1998
Posted By: John Franklin Rawls, graduate student, Developmental Biology, Washington University
Area of science: Development
ID: 910502802.Dv
Message:

The cells which give mammals their pigment patterns are generated only 
several days after fertilization.  These cells arise from a region called 
the neural crest.  The neural crest is the most dorsal part of the neural 
tube - the tissue that eventually forms your spinal cord.  These cells 
leave the neural crest and migrate throughout the body to the skin, where 
they can produce pigment.  There are several different kinds of pigment 
cells, each of which makes a different color pigment.  Different patterns, 
like stripes and spots are the result of these pigment cells "talking" to 
one another and their neighboring cells.  As a result of the pigment cells 
talking, they know how to organize themselves to create the appropriate 
pattern.  A very interesting question is how the cells are communicating.  
Many scientists are currently studying this question, and there are no 
complete answers yet.  I am not familiar with the radio broadcast you 
referred to, but I am certainly interested!  Mathematics and physics are 
the foundation of any biological phenomonon, and they certainly are 
relevant in the issue of pigment pattern formation.  Another method 
scientist use in this question is to identify genes that are important in 
pattern formation.  Indeed, a number of such genes have been found.  This 
is important, because any mathematical or physical explanation of pigment 
pattern formation will have to explain HOW the cells communicate, and we 
know they are communicating via proteins.  So understanding the genes that 
code for the proteins important in this cellular communication will be 
essential to any mathematical model explaining it.  Math can explain many 
things, but one has to know what the units and variables are.  So there is 
no complete answer yet, but hopefully this will change within the next few 
years.  Stay tuned!



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