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Embryo Patterning: Morphogen Gradients & Gastrulation

Interactive 3D simulation of developmental biology: a diffusing morphogen gradient assigns embryonic cells to germ-layer fates by concentration threshold (the French Flag model), and the resulting mesoderm cells invaginate to form a ventral furrow, mimicking gastrulation.

Biology3DModerate60 FPS

Every embryonic cell in this simulation starts identical. The only thing that tells a cell what to become is how much of a diffusing signalling molecule it happens to sit in — a concept developmental biologists call positional information. Watch the morphogen gradient build up along the circumference of an embryonic tube, cells commit to ectoderm, neuroectoderm or mesoderm fates once their local concentration crosses a threshold, and the highest-concentration band folds inward to form the first groove of gastrulation. Adjust secretion, diffusion, decay, noise and the fate thresholds to see how a single gradient can pattern an entire tissue, and why real fate boundaries are fuzzy rather than knife-sharp.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D simulation of a diffusing morphogen gradient around a ring of embryonic cells: threshold concentrations split the tissue into ectoderm, neuroectoderm and mesoderm (the French Flag model), and the mesoderm band invaginates inward to form a ventral furrow, mimicking the first movement of gastrulation.

Three.jsdevelopmental biologyembryologymorphogenesisgastrulationmolecular biology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install