what is the definition of induction in biology in your own words

Question

what is the definition of induction in biology in your own words

Answer 1

Bailo:

As with many terms in biology, this one can mean different things in different contexts. If Naina's definition doesn't fit your case, consider the one derived from logic, where it's a different form of drawing conclusions than deduction. Logical induction is sometimes summarized as "from one to many", meaning that you are working from an understanding or characterization from a small number of things to suggesting a rule or property of many of them. 

 

You can work through a nice discussion here:

https://www.livescience.com/21569-deduction-vs-induction.html

 

Answer 2

Induction implies to modification: structural, molecular/chemical and functional. 

 

In biological system it is part of embryonic development. One easy example is induction of labor in a pregnant primate mother (human, orangutan, bonobo whatever).

 

During induction cell layer come in close contact with each other,one cell layer induces chemical, molecular and structural alterations in the other cell layer and a new cell layer with unique features is formed. Initially, embryos only have two cell layers: ectoderm and endoderm. Ectodermal cell layer forms skin and nervous system and endoderm develops into kidney, parts  of digestive organs etc. At some point, ectodermal cellyaer invaginates and comes in close contact with endodermal cell layer leading to the formation of new cell layer: mesoderm. Muslce, heart and blood vessels are formed from mesoderm and are known as mesodermal derivatives.

 

Hope this is clear and helpful.

 

Best,