Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Regulation

BP 20.6: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 11:00–11:15, H 1058

Maximising positional information of morphogen gradients in the Drosophila embryo — •Tiago Ramalho and Ulrich Gerland — Arnold Sommerfeld Center, Dept. of Physics, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, Theresienstr. 37 80333 München, Germany

Information about position along the antero-posterior axis in Drosophila can be encoded in morphogen spatial distribution profiles. To decode this position, a parameter estimation procedure must be implicitly used by the biological system. Fisher information, an abstract measure of the precision with which a parameter can be estimated is applied to this context and resulting optimal profiles are calculated. The information theoretical results are compared to a model which optimizes morphogen profiles for biological function.