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oa Drawing to Extend Waddington's Epigenetic Landscape

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The authors, an artist, a mathematician and a biologist, describe their collaboration examining the potential of drawing to further the understanding of biological processes. As a case study, this article considers C.H. Waddington's powerful visual representation of the “epigenetic landscape,” whose purpose is to unify research in genetics, embryology and evolutionary biology. The authors explore the strengths and limitations of Waddington's landscape and attempt to transcend the latter through a collaborative series of exploratory images. Through careful description of this drawing process, the authors touch on its epistemological consequences for all participants.

Keywords: arts and science ; Canalisation ; Development ; drawing ; dynamical systems theory ; Dynamics ; Embryology ; epigenetic landscape ; Evolution ; Modelling ; oscillatory dynamics ; Plasticity ; Somitogenesis ; Vertebrate embryology ; Waddington ; Washington landscape

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Drawing to Extend Waddington's Epigenetic Landscape
Intellect , 83 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789387094_5
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References

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References

  1. Anderson, Gemma (2014), ‘Endangered: A study of morphological drawing in zoological taxonomy’, Leonardo, 47, pp. 232–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Anderson, Gemma (2017), Drawing as a Way of Knowing in Art and Science, Bristol: Intellect.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Anderson, Gemma , Buck, Dorothy , Coates, Tom and Corti, Alessio (2015), ‘Drawing in mathematics: From inverse vision to the liberation of form’, Leonardo, 48:5, pp. 439–48.97
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Aulehla, Alexander and Pourquié, Olivier (2010), ‘Oscillating signaling pathways during embryonic development’, Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 20:6, pp. 632–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Baedke, Jan (2013), ‘The epigenetic landscape in the course of time: Conrad Hal Waddington's methodological impact on the life sciences’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 44, pp. 756–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Cvekl, Aleš and Ashery-Padan, Ruth (2014), ‘The cellular and molecular mechanisms of vertebrate lens development’, Development, 141:23, pp. 4432–47.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Fagan, Melinda Bonnie (2012), ‘Waddington redux: Models and explanation in stem cell and systems biology’, Biology & Philosophy, 27, pp. 179–213.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Fusco, Giuseppe , Carrer, Roberto and Serrelli, Emanuele (2014), ‘The landscape metaphor in development’, in A. Minelli and T. Pradeu (eds), Towards a Theory of Development, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.114–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Gilbert, Scott F. (1991), ‘Epigenetic landscaping: Waddington's use of cell fate bifurcation diagrams’, Biology & Philosophy, 6, pp. 135–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Gilbert, Scott F. (2000), ‘Diachronic biology meets evo-devo: C. H. Waddington's approach to evolutionary developmental biology’, American Zoologist, 40:5, pp. 729–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Gilbert, Scott F. (2016), Developmental Biology, 11th ed., Sunderland: Sinauer Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Goldberg, Aaron D. , Allis, C. David and Bernstein, Emily (2007), ‘Epigenetics: A landscape takes shape’, Cell, 128:4, pp. 635–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Goldbeter, Albert (1996), Biochemical Oscillations and Cellular Rhythms, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Goodwin, Brian C. (1963), Temporal Organization in Cells, London: Academic Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hall , Brian K. (1992), ‘Waddington's legacy in development and evolution’, American Zoologist, 32:1, pp. 113–22.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Huang, Sui (2012), ‘The molecular and mathematical basis of Waddington's epigenetic landscape: A framework for post-Darwinian biology?’, BioEssays, 34:2, pp. 149–57.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Isomura, Akihiro and Kageyama, Ryoichiro (2014), ‘Ultradian oscillations and pulses: Coordinating cellular responses and cell fate decisions’, Development, 141:19, pp. 3627–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Jaeger, Johannes and Monk, Nick (2014), ‘Bioattractors: Dynamical systems theory and the evolution of regulatory processes’, Journal of Physiology, 592:11, pp. 2267–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Kandel, Eric (2012), The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present, New York: Random House.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Klee, Paul (1970), Notebooks Volume 2: The Nature of Nature (ed. J. Spiller, trans. H. Norden), New York: Wittenborn.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Latham, William (2014), ‘Mutator 1+2: Evolutionary art by William Latham’, YouTube, 28 September, http://www.phoenixbrighton.org/archive/2013-2/william-latham-mutator-1-2. Accessed 28 September 2014 .
  22. Mooneyham, Benjamin W. and Schooler, Jonathan W. (2013), ‘The costs and benefits of mind-wandering: A review’, Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67:1, pp. 11–18.98
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Moris, Naomi , Pina, Cristina and Martinez Arias, Arias (2016), ‘Transition states and cell fate decisions in epigenetic landscapes’, Nature Reviews Genetics, 17, pp. 693–703.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Noble, Denis (2015) ‘Conrad Hal Waddington and the origins of epigenetics’, Journal of Experimental Biology, 218, pp. 816–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Oates Andrew C. , Morelli, Luis G. and Ares, Saúl (2012), ‘Patterning embryos with oscillations: Structure, function and dynamics of the vertebrate segmentation clock’, Development, 139:4, pp. 625–39.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Peterson Erik L. (2011), ‘The excluded philosophy of evo-devo? Revisiting C. H. Waddington's failed attempt to embed Alfred North Whitehead's “Organicism” in evolutionary biology’, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 33:3, pp. 301–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Sareen Dhruv and Svendsen, Clive N. (2010), ‘Stem cell biologists sure play a mean pinball’, Nature Biotechnology, 28:4, pp. 333–5.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Spiller, Jurg (ed.) (1973), The Paul Klee Notebooks: The Nature of Nature (trans. H. Norden), London: Lund Humphries.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Slack, Jonathan M. W. (2002), ‘Conrad Hal Waddington: The last Renaissance biologist?’, Nature Reviews Genetics, 3, pp. 889–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Thom, Rene (1976), Structural Stability and Morphogenesis, Reading: W. A. Benjamin Inc.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Thompson, Wentworth (1992), On Growth and Form (abridged Canto Edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Verd, Berta , Crombach, Anton and Jaeger, Johannes (2014), ‘Classification of transient behaviours in a time-dependent toggle switch model’, BMC Systems Biology, 8, p. 43.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Waddington Conrad H. (1939), An Introduction to Modern Genetics, New York: Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Waddington, Conrad H. (1940), Organisers and Genes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Waddington, Conrad H. (1942), ‘Canalization of development and the inheritance of acquired characters’, Nature, 150, pp. 563–65.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Waddington, Conrad H. (1957), The Strategy of the Genes, London: Allen & Unwin.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Waddington, Conrad H. (1968), ‘New visions of the world’, Leonardo, 1:1, pp. 69–77.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Waddington, Conrad H. (1977), Tools for Thought, New York: Paladin, p. xiii.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Winfree, Arthur (2001), The Geometry of Biological Time, 2nd ed., New York: Springer.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Wittmann, Barbara (2011), ‘Knowledge in the making: Drawing and writing as research techniques’, Berlin, MPI for the History of Science, knowledge-in-the-making.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/knowledgeInTheMaking/en/index.htm. Accessed 22 July 2015 .
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Wolfram Research (2017), mathworld.wolfram.com/KleinBottle.html. Accessed 4 October 2017 .

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