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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 25: Oscillatory Systems
BP 25.5: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 29. März 2007, 15:45–16:00, H44
Waves of gene expression in vertebrate segmentation — •Luis G. Morelli1, Saul Ares1, Leah Herrgen2, Christian Schröter2, Andrew Oates2, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems — 2Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
During vertebrate development, the body axis segments sequentially from the head to the tail of the embryo. This process is driven by genetic oscillators together with a moving determination front that slows down and arrests the oscillators. As a result, waves of gene expression propagate along the body axis. We propose a theoretical description based on coupled phase oscillators that describes the patterns of gene expression observed in experiments, both in wild type and mutants. Based on experimental evidence our description introduces a frequency profile, together with a moving boundary that describes axis elongation. To account for the time it takes for signaling molecules to be produced and exported to the cell membrane we include a time delay in the coupling. We derive analytical expressions for the wavelength of the patterns and the period of oscillations.