PENTAMERISM AND MODULARITY IN SEA URCHINS

Fivefold symmetry is important in many scientific areas. In particular, five-part units or pentamerism is a basic pattern in the design of many animals and plants. Despite some efforts, a definite explanation of the abundance of this pentamerism is still missing. In this note we use sea urchins as w...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Juan López-Sauceda, José Luis Aragón
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:México
Institución:Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Repositorio:Redalyc-UNAM
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:43219048006
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=43219048006
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Biología
Modularity
pentamerism
sea urchins
Descripción
Sumario:Fivefold symmetry is important in many scientific areas. In particular, five-part units or pentamerism is a basic pattern in the design of many animals and plants. Despite some efforts, a definite explanation of the abundance of this pentamerism is still missing. In this note we use sea urchins as working examples to propose some ideas, based on spatial efficiency arguments and the concept of modular systems, which can give clues to understand the advantages of a pentameral body plan partition in biological systems.