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SUMMARY:Cracking the code of crocodile skin - Michel C. Milinkovitch (Univ
 ersity of Geneva)
DTSTART:20140129T130000Z
DTEND:20140129T140000Z
UID:TALK50097@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jeremy Solly
DESCRIPTION:Various lineages of amniotes display keratinised skin appendag
 es (feathers\, hairs\, and scales) that differentiate in the embryo from g
 enetically-controlled developmental units whose spatial organisation is pa
 tterned by reaction-diffusion mechanisms (RDMs). Using customised robotic 
 high-resolution 3D geometry and texture reconstruction hardware and softwa
 re\, as well as developmental biology techniques\, we recently showed that
  face and jaws scales of crocodiles are random polygonal domains of highly
  keratinised skin\, rather than genetically controlled elements\, and emer
 ge from a physical self-organising stochastic process distinct from RDMs: 
 cracking of the developing skin in a stress field. In addition\, using mol
 ecular and electrophysiological analyses\, we demonstrated that the small 
 integumentary sensory organs (ISOs) distributed on postcranial and/or cran
 ial scales of crocodylians\, are not only exquisite mechanosensors\, but c
 onstitute multi-sensorial micro-organs innervated by multiple pools of sen
 sory neurons with mechano-\, thermo-\, and chemosensory functions. Hence\,
  the ancestral vertebrate diffused sensory system of the skin was transfor
 med in the crocodylian lineage into an array of discrete multi-sensory mic
 ro-organs with no equivalent in other vertebrates. These two profoundly mo
 dified developmental processes (cracking of the skin and discretisation of
  sensory expression sites) allowed crocodylians to develop a highly-armour
 ed\, yet very sensitive\, skin.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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