Analysis of gap gene regulation in a 3D organism-scale model of the Drosophila melanogaster embryo.

ABSTRACT: The axial bodyplan of Drosophila melanogaster is determined during a process called morphogenesis. Shortly after fertilization, maternal bicoid mRNA is translated into Bicoid (Bcd). This protein establishes a spatially graded morphogen distribution along the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the embryo. Bcd initiates AP axis determination by triggering expression of gap genes that subsequently regulate each other's expression to form a precisely controlled spatial distribution of gene products. Reaction-diffusion models of gap gene expression on a 1D domain have previously been used to infer complex genetic regulatory network (GRN) interactions by optimizing model parameters with respect to 1D gap gene expression data. Here we construct a finite element reaction-diffusion model with a realis

SUBMITTER: Hengenius JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3217930 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature