Hong Kong scientists have helped to shed light on why and how living things grow to look a certain way - why humans have five fingers on each hand, or why horses have one hoof on each leg.
The findings stem from three years of studying how organisms grow into different shapes and structures, by researchers from the University of Hong Kong, Baptist University, the University of California in San Diego and the University of Marburg in Germany.
'We now understand the logic behind why and how living organisms form in certain ways, which brings us closer to being able to control how things will grow,' said Dr Huang Jiandong, the main researcher. The research contributes to our understanding of how patterns are formed in natural organisms, allowing us to possibly control them, he said.
The findings explain some basic principles in biology, which are crucial for developing regenerative medicine such as growing organs and tissues, or using stem cells to repair damaged organs. However, Huang said the findings were still far from being applied to medicine, as the study was only done on a very basic form of bacteria.
The researchers designed a synthetic genetic programme and applied it to E coli bacteria, successfully controlling how it grew.
The research was easily able to alter the number of stripes formed by the bacteria.