Biologists induce flatworms to grow heads and brains of other species
Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 19:50
in Biology & Nature
Tufts biologists induced one species of flatworm -- G. dorotocephala, top left -- to grow heads and brains characteristic of other species of flatworm, top row, without altering genomic sequence. MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (November 24, 2015)--Biologists at Tufts University have succeeded in inducing one species of flatworm to grow heads and brains characteristic of another species of flatworm without altering genomic sequence. The work reveals physiological circuits as a new kind of epigenetics - information existing outside of genomic sequence - that determines large-scale anatomy.