Evidence Found for Alan Turing’s 1950s Tiger Stripe Theory
Alan Mathison Turing at the time of his election to a Fellowship of the Royal Society. Copyright National Portrait Gallery
Physorg.com is reporting on an online posting in the Nature Genetics journal that Alan Turing’s 1952 theory of Morphogenesis.
The study, funded by the Medical Research Council and to be published online in Nature Genetics, not only demonstrates a mechanism which is likely to be widely relevant in vertebrate development, but also provides confidence that chemicals called morphogens, which control these patterns, can be used in regenerative medicine to differentiate stem cells into tissue.
The findings provide evidence to support a theory first suggested in the 1950s by famous code-breaker and mathematician Alan Turing, whose centenary falls this year. He put forward the idea that regular repeating patterns in biological systems are generated by a pair of morphogens that work together as an ‘activator’ and ‘inhibitor’.
The tests involved identifying the morphogens used during the formation of ridges found on the roof of the mouths of lab mice. The morphogens were identified as FGF (Fibroblast Growth Factor) and Shh (Sonic Hedgehog – given that name because apparently laboratory fruit flies lacking the fly version have extra bristles on their bodies).
They showed that when these morphogens’ activity is increased or decreased, the pattern of the ridges in the mouth palate are affected in ways predicted by Turing’s equations. For the first time the actual morphogens involved in this process have been identified and the team were able to see exactly the effects predicted by Turing’s 60-year-old speculative theory.
While the ridges in the roof of the mouth are not very important to biology, the finding does give significant evidence to Turning’s theory.
‘Not only does this show us how patterns such as stripes are formed, but it provides confidence that these morphogens (chemicals) can be used in future regenerative medicine to regenerate structure and pattern when differentiating stem cells into other tissues.
‘As this year marks Turing’s centenary, it is a fitting tribute to this great mathematician and computer scientist that we should now be able to prove that his theory was right all along!’
As many of you may already know, Alan Turing was a genius mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and one of the first computer scientists. His ground breaking work during World War 2 could be considered prominent enough that we may not have won the war without it. His theory of Morphogenesis was published the same year he was criminally prosecuted for being a homosexual. Being gay was considered a criminal act at the time. He was given a choice of chemical castration or prison time. He opted for the chemical castration. Two years later he committed suicide by ingesting cyanide.
On September 10th 2009, British PM Gordon Brown released a statement in acknowledgment of a petition signed by thousands to apologize for his treatment.
Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him … So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.
A follow-up petition signed by oner 21,000 petitioners to pardon Turing was declined.
Our June Get Together will celebrate the 100th Centennial of Turing’s Birth.
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