epigenesis

Definition

The theory that an organism develops by differentiation from an unstructured egg rather than by simple enlarging of something preformed.

Etymology

From epi- + -genesis.

Example Sentences

• "Ignored for two millennia, Aristotle, in his book On the Generation of Animals, first proposed the theory of epigenesis in biology, suggesting that development of a plant or animal from an egg or spore follows a sequence of steps in which the organism changes and the various organs form."

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