Self-organization is an all-important feature of living systems that provides the means to achieve specialization and functionality at distinct spatio-temporal scales. Herein, we review this concept by addressing the packing organization of cells, the sorting/compartmentalization phenomenon of cell populations, and the propagation of organizing cues at the tissue level through traveling waves. We elaborate on how different theoretical models and tools from Topology, Physics, and Dynamical Systems have improved the understanding of self-organization by shedding light on the role played by mechanics as a driver of morphogenesis. Altogether, by providing a historical perspective, we show how ideas and hypotheses in the field have been revisited, developed, and/or rejected and what are the open questions that need to be tackled by future research.

自组织是生命系统的一个非常重要的特征，它提供了在不同时空尺度上实现专业化和功能的手段。在这里，我们通过解决细胞的包装组织、细胞群的分类/区室化现象以及通过行波在组织水平上传播组织线索来回顾这一概念。我们详细阐述了来自拓扑、物理学和动力系统的不同理论模型和工具如何通过阐明力学作为形态发生驱动力所起的作用来提高对自组织的理解。总之，通过提供历史视角，我们展示了该领域的想法和假设是如何被重新审视、发展和/或拒绝的，以及未来研究需要解决的悬而未决的问题。