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Nature 431, 635-636 (7 October 2004) | doi:10.1038/431635a; Published online 6 October 2004

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Developmental biology: Holding it together in the eye

Paul A. Janmey1 & Dennis E Discher1

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To form tissues, like cells must clump together. The striking resemblance between one cell aggregate in flies and a cluster of soap bubbles points to a crucial role for surface mechanics in biological pattern formation.

How informative are the relatively simple and general rules of physics in explaining the often bewildering complexity and specificity of biology? The large number of proteins and metabolites that work together to produce the specific shapes and functions of different cell types suggests that any apparent similarities between cells and simpler non-biological objects are unlikely to be more than coincidence.

  1. Paul A. Janmey and Dennis E. Discher are at the Institute for Medicine and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
    Email: janmey@mail.med.upenn.edu
    Email: discher@seas.upenn.edu

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