Morphogenesis

morphogenesis [‚mȯr·fə′jen·ə·səs]

(embryology)

The transformation involved in the growth and differentiation of cells and tissue. Also known as topogenesis.

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Morphogenesis 

the rise and development of organs, systems, and parts of organisms in their individual development (ontogeny), as well as in their historical, or evolutionary, development (phylogeny). The study of morphogenesis is one of the principal areas of plant, animal, and human morphology.

The established lawlike regularities of morphogenesis provided important evidence for the evolution of organisms. Contributors to the study of morphogenesis [followed by the years in which they made important discoveries] were Aristotle (fourth century B.C.), P. Belon (1555), W. Harvey (1651), C. F. Wolff (1759), J. W. von Goethe (1790, 1795), E. Geoffrey SaintHilaire (1831), K. E. von Baer (1828–37), W. Hofmeister (1851), E. Haeckel (1866), I. N. Gorozhankin (1875, 1880), and A. N. Severtsov (1931, 1939).

The study of morphogenetic features at various stages of ontogeny for the purpose of controlling the development of organisms is a basic concern of developmental biology, genetics, molecular biology, and evolutionary physiology. Morphogenetic research is also important in the study of heredity.

REFERENCES

Shmal’gauzen, 1.1. Reguliatsiia formoobrazovaniia v individual’nom razvitii. Moscow, 1964.
Sinnott, E. Morfogenez rastenii. Moscow, 1963. (Translated from English.)
Waddington, C. Morfogenez igenetika. Moscow, 1964. (Translated from English.)

B. S. MATVEEV