Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 50: Poster Session "Biological Physics"

AKB 50.95: Poster

Friday, March 12, 2004, 10:30–13:00, B

Global pattern formation from local cell-to-cell communication — •Thimo Rohlf and Stefan Bornholdt — IZBI, University of Leipzig, Kreuzstr. 7b, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

A central observation in developmental biology is the self-organization of spatial gene expression patterns on scales much larger than cell size. In existing models, this is often explained by morphogen gradients, which are established by Turing instability of activator-inhibitor systems [1]. However, pattern formation in these models depends on parameter tuning of, e.g., diffusion constants. The role of gene regulation in development is neglected. Here we sketch a new process of global pattern formation from local information transfer without the need for parameter tuning. We study a three-state cellular automaton which reproduces two basic experimental observations at the polyp Hydra: de novo pattern regeneration and regulation of expression domain size proportional to system size.

The model shows remarkable robustness with respect to noise and cell movement. Similar mechanisms could in principle occur in biological organisms where direct contact induction is present.

[1] Gierer, A. and Meinhardt, H., Kybernetik 12, 30 (1972)