A Doppler effect in embryonic pattern formation

Abstract

Observing an embryonic Doppler effect The sound of an oncoming train changes as it passes you, a phenomenon termed the Doppler effect. Soroldoni et al. propose a similar event during the formation of vertebrate embryo body segments. It is generally thought that the internal timing of a genetic oscillator called the “segmentation clock” sets the rhythm of body segments called somites. However, time-lapse microscopy of the spatial waves of oscillations and the timing of body segment formation showed segments forming faster than spatial genetic oscillations. This “Doppler effect” occurs because the end of the oscillating tissue moves steadily into the oncoming waves. Thus, the rhythm of sequential body segmentation is a function of genetic oscillations, their changing wave pattern, and tissue shortening. Science , this issue p. 222