A team of researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland has built a mathematical model explaining how skin cells arrange hair follicles into precise patterns without complex genetic instructions, infohub.kz reports.
According to SciTechDaily, it was long believed that a complex system of molecular signals suppressing the growth of neighboring hairs governed this process. The new work shows that dermal cells find the right position on their own through chemotaxis — directed movement in response to attractive chemicals released by the outer layer of skin. As tissues grow, this movement alone gives rise to ordered hair primordia.
The scientists tested the concept on two rodent species: ordinary laboratory mice and spiny mice. In the latter, fur grows in strict, even rows with a clear direction, which did not fit earlier scientific hypotheses. Using three-dimensional images of developing embryonic tissue, the researchers tuned the model's parameters to each animal's characteristics. In both cases, the algorithm accurately recreated the natural hair-cover patterns.
The authors stressed that the match between the mathematical calculations and real patterns still requires confirmation in living tissue. Nevertheless, the discovery points to a universal principle of evolution: the vast diversity of skin cover arises from basic processes of cell self-organization.