Invagination
Encyclopedia
Invagination means to fold inward or to sheath. In biology
, this can refer to a number of processes.
In the humanities:
In Geology:
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, this can refer to a number of processes.
- Invagination is the morphogenetic processes by which an embryoEmbryoAn embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
takes form, and is the initial step of gastrulationGastrulationGastrulation is a phase early in the embryonic development of most animals, during which the single-layered blastula is reorganized into a trilaminar structure known as the gastrula. These three germ layers are known as the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm.Gastrulation takes place after cleavage...
, the massive reorganization of the embryo from a simple spherical ball of cellsCell (biology)The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
, the blastulaBlastulaThe blastula is a hollow sphere of cells formed during an early stage of embryonic development in animals . The blastula is created when the zygote undergoes the cell division process known as cleavage. The blastula is preceded by the morula and is followed by the gastrula in the developmental...
, into a multi-layered organismOrganismIn biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
, with differentiated germ layerGerm layerA germ layer, occasionally referred to as a germinal epithelium, is a group of cells, formed during animal embryogenesis. Germ layers are particularly pronounced in the vertebrates; however, all animals more complex than sponges produce two or three primary tissue layers...
s: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. More localized invaginations also occur later in embryonic development, to form coelom, etc. - Invagination is the formation of a cleavage furrowCleavage furrowIn cell biology, the cleavage furrow is the indentation that begins the process of cleavage, by which animal and some algal cells undergo cytokinesis. The same proteins responsible for muscle contraction, actin and myosin begin the process of forming the cleavage furrow. This can only happen in...
during cytokinesisCytokinesisCytokinesis is the process in which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell is divided to form two daughter cells. It usually initiates during the late stages of mitosis, and sometimes meiosis, splitting a binucleate cell in two, to ensure that chromosome number is maintained from one generation...
in animalAnimalAnimals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
cells. - The inner membrane of a mitochondrion invaginates to form cristae, thus providing a much greater surface area to accommodate the protein complexes and other participants that produce ATP.
- Invagination occurs during endocytosisEndocytosisEndocytosis is a process by which cells absorb molecules by engulfing them. It is used by all cells of the body because most substances important to them are large polar molecules that cannot pass through the hydrophobic plasma or cell membrane...
and exocytosisExocytosisExocytosis , also known as 'The peni-cytosis', is the durable process by which a cell directs the contents of secretory vesicles out of the cell membrane...
when a vesicle forms within the cell and the membrane closes around it. - Invagination of a part of the intestineIntestineIn human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
into another part is called intussusceptionIntussusception (medical disorder)An intussusception is a medical condition in which a part of the intestine has invaginated into another section of intestine, similar to the way in which the parts of a collapsible telescope slide into one another. This can often result in an obstruction...
.
In the humanities:
- Used to explain a special kind of metanarrativeMetanarrativeA metanarrative , in critical theory and particularly postmodernism, is an abstract idea that is thought to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge. According to John Stephens, it "is a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge...
. Used by Rosalind Krauss and Jacques Derrida (The Law of Genre, Glyph 7 (1980).
In Geology:
- Used to describe a deep depression of strata. Used by Donald L. Baars in "The Colorado Plateau"