Mutual repression enhances the steepness and precision of gene expression boundaries.

ABSTRACT: 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, embryonic development is usually exceedingly precise. In particular, gene expression boundaries are robust not only against intra-embryonic fluctuations such as noise in gene expression and protein diffusion, but also against embryo-to-embryo variations in the morphogen gradients, which provide positional information to the differentiating cells. How development is robust against intra- and inter-embryonic variations is not understood. A common motif in the gene regulation networks that control embryonic development is mutual repression between pairs of genes. To assess the role of mutual repression in the robust formation

SUBMITTER: Sokolowski TR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3431325 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature