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Explore how cells communicate during embryonic development to form complex tissues and patterns in this second lecture from Professor Lewis Wolpert's 1986 Christmas Lectures series on developmental biology. Discover the fundamental principles of pattern formation through the French Flag Problem, where cells must organize themselves into distinct regions based on positional information. Learn how embryonic cells acquire knowledge of their spatial coordinates and interpret this information to develop into appropriate structures like arms, legs, and organs. Examine the concept of positional information using the development of an angel's wing as a model system, and understand how different mechanisms provide cells with coordinate system knowledge. Investigate the instructive communication between tissues that coordinates development, including fascinating examples like how foot sole cells can form tooth enamel when combined with tooth germs. Delve into the regulatory abilities of early embryos that can form normal patterns even when parts are removed or rearranged, and understand how cells transition from being influenced by their environment to having determined fates. This hour-long lecture, filmed at the Royal Institution in December 1986, demonstrates how the signals between cells may constitute a universal and simple language that coordinates the remarkable transformation from a single fertilized egg into complex multicellular organisms.
