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finding:polyploid-newt-kidney-tubules-use-fewer-larger-cells-to-maintain-identical-organ-level-structurePolyploid newt kidney tubules use fewer, larger cells to maintain identical organ-level structure
Illustrates that anatomical goals are pursued via flexible molecular mechanisms rather than fixed cell-count programs.
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extracted_from(2025) · Michael Levin
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claim
- Core claim of §3.1, supported by regeneration, twinning, and kidney-tubule scaling data.
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- Fankhauser 1945 finding on anatomical regulation despite ploidy changes.
- From Fankhauser 1945; illustrates top-down control where large-scale morphology is maintained despite drastically wrong cell size.
- Shows multi-scale anatomical homeostasis using different cellular mechanisms.
- Engineered polyploid newts with abnormally large cells and extra chromosomes develop normal kidney tubule diameters by switching molecular mechanisms on-the-fly.
- When cell size is artificially enlarged, tubule formation adapts by reducing cell count and eventually using cytoskeletal bending within one cell.
- Single newt cell can wrap around itself to form a kidney tubule when cell size is artificially increased.finding0.854From Fankhauser (1945), demonstrates diverse molecular mechanisms serving a higher-level anatomical specification.
- When cell size was doubled, tubules used fewer cells; when quadrupled, a single cell formed the tubule by cytoskeletal deformation, maintaining correct lumen diameter.
- Extreme example of regulative flexibility.