Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 22: Statistical Physics of Biological Systems III (with DY)
BP 22.3: Talk
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 15:30–15:45, H 1058
Mutual Repression enhances Gene Boundary Precision by Steepening — •Thomas R. Sokolowski1, Thorsten Erdmann2, and Pieter Rein ten Wolde1 — 1FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands — 2University of Heidelberg, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Philosophenweg 19, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Embryonic development is driven by spatial patterns of gene expression that determine the fate of each cell in the embryo. While gene expression is often highly erratic, embryo development is usually exceedingly precise. How development is robust against intra- and inter-embryonic variations is not understood. To assess the role of mutual repression in the robust formation of gene expression patterns, we have performed spatially resolved large-scale stochastic simulations of two gap genes in Drosophila melanogaster, hunchback (hb) and knirps (kni), which are activated by their morphogens Bicoid (Bcd) and Caudal (Cad), respectively, and mutually repress each other. Our analysis shows that mutual repression can markedly increase the steepness and precision of the gap gene expression boundaries. Moreover, it dramatically enhances their robustness against embryo-to-embryo variations in the morphogen levels. Finally, our simulations reveal that diffusion of the gap proteins plays a critical role not only in reducing the width of the gap gene expression boundaries via the mechanism of spatial averaging, but also in repairing patterning errors that could arise because of the bistability induced by mutual repression.