and S etic ys th te n m y s S B t i n o Current Synthetic and Systems e l o r r g u y C Biology Spriet, et al., Curr Synthetic Sys Biol 2015, 3:1 ISSN: 2332-0737 DOI: 10.4172/2332-0737.1000118 Review Article Open Access Getting ab ovo Developmental Processes Intelligible Using Metaphors, Microscopy and Paradigms Spriet C1, Cailliau K2 and Bodart JF2* 1Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, TISBio, UMR 8576, FR3688 CNRS, Villeneuve d´Ascq, France 2Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, Régulation des Signaux de Division Team, UMR 8576 CNRS, Villeneuve d´Ascq, France *Corresponding author: Jean-François Bodart, Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies, TISBio, UMR 8576, FR3688 CNRS, Villeneuve d´Ascq, France, Tel: 33320436867; E-mail:
[email protected] Rec Date: February 22, 2015, Acc Date: March 13, 2015, Pub Date: March 16, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Spriet C, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Developmental biology is a field fertile in metaphors and paradigms, and offers a playground rich of possibilities for various technologies. The underlying mechanisms for developmental biology processes have challenged science and imagination for centuries. Herein we propose a non-exhaustive incursion into three major concepts in the field: self-organization, pattern organization and mechanical forces. Observations and views issued from synthetic and systems biology are discussed to move towards a more comprehensive and accurate "landscape" of the very early steps of embryogenesis.