Segmentation (biology)

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Vertebrates have a segmented vertebral column and brain.
Vertebrates have a segmented vertebral column and brain.

Segmentation in biology refers to the division of some metazoan bodies and plant body plans into a series of semi-repetitive segments, and the question of the benefits and costs of doing so. As such, segmentation is related to the more general concept of modularity.

Examples of segmented animals are the annelids and arthropods. Vertebrae are also inherited in a segmented way, making it easy for those animals to adapt to have the correct number of these spinal cord segments in the vertebral column. This has been extensively studied in mice. Among plants, the horsetails are a clear example of segmentation.

Segmentation allows for a high degree of specialization of bodily regions. This regional specialization is seen to some degree in annelids, but is an evolutionary development of the body plan of arthropods.

The process of establishing such a segmented body pattern is discussed in morphogenesis.

v • d • e
The development of phenotype
Key concepts Genotype-phenotype distinction · Norms of reaction · Gene-environment interaction · Heritability · Quantitative genetics
Genetic architecture Dominance relationship · Epistasis · Polygenic inheritance · Pleiotropy · Plasticity · Canalisation · Fitness landscape
Non-genetic influences Epigenetics · Maternal effect · Dual inheritance theory
Developmental architecture Segmentation · Modularity
Evolution of genetic systems Evolvability · Mutational robustness · Evolution of sex
Influential figures C. H. Waddington · Richard Lewontin
Debates Nature versus nurture
List of evolutionary biology topics
 This biology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmentation_%28biology%29"
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