The feathered one in the flock of models: Gallus Gallus as a model organism for developmental biology

• López-Paleta, Miguel ^[1] ; Suárez-Díaz, Edna ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

     Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

     México

     
• Localización: Ludus vitalis: revista de filosofía de las ciencias de la vida = journal of philosophy of life sciences = revue de philosophie des sciences de la vie, ISSN 1133-5165, Vol. 22, Nº. 41, 2014, págs. 71-89
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper aims to provide a critical picture of the role of domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) as a “model organism” in developmental biology. As such, it seeks to be a contribution in the field of historical epistemology, broadly defined. We take into account the characterization of model organisms by Ankeny and Leonelli (2011) and, secondarily, the one developed by Rheinberger (2010), in order to discuss the ways in which chicken fulfils, or not, the epistemic and material features of current model organisms. In a similar manner, we bring up some new arguments to those that chicken researchers have provide when facing the fact that Gallus gallus is not an organism frequently used in certain genetic research contexts. Finally, we consider some interesting topics in the philosophical reflection on model organisms that could be illuminated by the case of the domestic fowl.