Friday, February 24, 2012

How Did the Leopard Gets Its Body Spots?

The origins of the pattern of spots on a leopard's body has been a mystery. Many scientists who do not know how the pattern will only appear on the leopard.

Alan Turing was the first to try to uncover the mystery of the pattern of spots on a leopard. Turing is a scientist who managed to break the Nazi Enigma code, helping to end World War II and is recognized as the father of computer science. He was curious to solve the riddle of nature's most mysterious, namely how leopard get spots pattern on its body.

In 1952, Turing wrote his theory in a paper entitled The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis. According to him, and the total line pattern in animals caused by the interaction of a pair of chemicals, called morphogens.
Alan Turing. (From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/)
In theory, Turing said one chemical trigger cell activity, while the other chemicals in the way. The way these two types of chemicals that interact will determine which cells grow and create specific patterns on the body of a leopard.

Now, 60 years later, scientists have found that the Turing theory of recurrent patterns in the leopard proved entirely correct. Turing was able to prove their theory by using computer simulations, which were able to find a chemical that plays a role in the activation pattern formation spots.

Scientists from King's College London, UK, found that the interaction between the two morphogens named Fibroblasts Growth Factor and Sonic Hedgehog to determine the pattern of wrinkles on the rat's mouth. Determination of the pattern of wrinkles in the mouth of rats has also been discussed by Turing.

The same theory was applicable to the formation of patterns of lines and spots on the big cats, the number of hairs on fruit flies, or the number of threads to the leaves.

Jeremy Green, of the Centre for Development of Cell Biology, said the findings could accelerate progress toward the next generation of stem cell therapy. *** [TELEGRAPH | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 3802]
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