Modelling proportionate growth

Abstract

An important question in biology is how the relative size of different organs is kept nearly constant during growth of an animal. This property, called proportionate growth, has received increased attention in recent years. We discuss our recent work on a simple model where this feature comes out quite naturally from local rules, without fine-tuning any parameter. The patterns produced are composed of large distinguishable structures with sharp boundaries, all of which grow at the same rate, keeping their overall shapes unchanged.