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Cellular life histories and bow tie biology
Author(s) -
Lampl Michelle
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.20094
Subject(s) - organism , biology , cellular metabolism , hypoxia (environmental) , developmental biology , cell metabolism , fetus , energy metabolism , model organism , flexibility (engineering) , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , physiology , bioinformatics , computational biology , metabolism , genetics , oxygen , chemistry , pregnancy , biochemistry , endocrinology , statistics , mathematics , organic chemistry , gene
Considering the life‐long influences of fetal growth biology, it is of interest to further elucidate the nature of the fetal growth process itself. Previous analyses of longitudinal fetal ultrasound data led to the hypothesis that hypoxia signals were important aspects of normal growth biology and directed attention to the place of oxygen as a basic nutrient. From the perspective of the cell, both hypoxia and lack of energy substrate trigger a common adaptive pathway through their effects on ATP availability. Comparative data from animal studies and cell culture provide evidence for an integrated energy/oxygen signaling system that acts redundantly and hierarchically with cellular differentiation programs, providing opportunities for developmental flexibility in response to variable ecologic or environmental challenge. The multinodal and interactive design of the fetal growth process suggests that it follows what has been described as the “bow tie” model of metabolism, with implications for robust and inventive approaches to cell, organ, and whole organism construction. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 17:66–80, 2005. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.