Bioelectric Head Patterning in Planaria

Bioelectric gradients regionalize gene expression to determine head structure in planaria; system can be hijacked by microbes to control host head number and morphology.

Source paper

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Darwin's agential materials: evolutionary implications of multiscale competency in developmental biology

(2023) · Levin, Michael

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Communities (3)

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Bioelectric memory & morphogenetic identity
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Gap junctions and bioelectric signals encode body-plan and memory patterns across radical biological transformation.
Bioelectric control of planarian morphogenesis
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Transient bioelectric manipulation persistently alters head number and patterning despite wild-type genetics in planaria.
Bioelectric control of planarian head patterning
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Experimental manipulation of resting membrane potential patterns to stably alter morphogenesis (head number/location) independent of genetic sequence, primarily in Dugesia species 2011-2017.

Concepts (1)

concept

Bioelectric Control Layer
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A key interface exploited by evolution to accomplish morphogenesis; cells perform computations via ion channel voltage dynamics; enables integration of information across scales toward large-scale morphogenetic goals.

Related by similarity (8)

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In planaria, the most depolarized region becomes the head; altering bioelectric pattern changes head location and number (Beane et al. 2011, Durant et al. 2017)finding0.856
The collective interprets relative voltage differences, not absolute values, to decide anterior identity.
Two-headed planaria via bioelectric circuit modificationfinding0.847
Bioelectric signatures control morphogenetic target patterns; transient bioelectrical modulation in planaria produces persistent two-headed phenotype.finding0.834
Transient bioelectrical modulation of body-wide pattern memory circuits in planaria can shift them from one-headed to persistent two-headed state, persisting through amputation rounds until reset with different manipulation.finding0.831
Experimental evidence that organism-scale goals can be rewritten through physiological signals without genetic modification; demonstrates bioelectricity as cognitive medium.
Brief bioelectric manipulation can stably convert wild-type planaria to a two-headed target morphology that persists through regeneration.finding0.821
From Durant et al. 2017; shows bioelectric pattern memory is reprogrammable without genomic change.
Planaria permanently generate two-headed forms despite completely wild-type genetic sequence after bioelectric pattern rewriting.finding0.812
Demonstrates that anatomical outcomes can be reprogrammed at the bioelectric level independently of DNA, inverting the software/hardware metaphor
Genetically wild-type planaria can be induced to adopt head shapes of other species by brief bioelectric modulation, crossing 100-150 My evolutionary distance in days.finding0.810
From Sullivan et al. 2016 and Emmons-Bell et al. 2015; demonstrates that large morphospace distances can be crossed by physiological manipulation.
Bioelectric perturbation permanently alters planarian head number to two-headed or zero-headedfinding0.805
Manipulation of Vmem via gap junction or ion channel drugs rewrites pattern memory, causing planaria to regenerate with stable, heritable aberrant head numbers.