Figure 2.

Information in physiological circuits instructs pattern formation. Gap junctions are key regulators of bioelectric cell state. (A) Like gene regulatory networks, which contain numerous feedback loops among gene loci, gap junctions, and ion channels both regulate and are regulated by resting potential. This establishes an autonomous layer of physiological dynamics that is coupled to transcriptional cascades, but has its own unique information and functions. Modulating bioelectric dynamics by induced changes of GJC results in large-scale alterations of pattern formation, including hyperinnervation (B), left-right organ inversions (B′), and multiple head formation in regenerating planaria (B″). Graphics courtesy of Alexis Pietak and Jeremy Guay.