Semi-permeable Diffusion Barriers Enhance Patterning Robustness in the C. elegans Germline.

ABSTRACT: Positional information derived from local morphogen concentration plays an important role in patterning. A key question is how morphogen diffusion and gene expression regulation shape positional information into an appropriate profile with suitably low noise. We address this question using a model system--the C. elegans germline--whose regulatory network has been well characterized genetically but whose spatiotemporal dynamics are poorly understood. We show that diffusion within the germline syncytium is a critical control of stem cell differentiation and that semi-permeable diffusion barriers present at key locations make it possible--in combination with a feedback loop in the germline regulatory network--for mitotic zone size to be robust against spatial noise in Notch signaling. Spatial

SUBMITTER: Cinquin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4694723 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature