A two-step patterning process increases the robustness of periodic patterning in the fly eye.

ABSTRACT: Complex periodic patterns can self-organize through dynamic interactions between diffusible activators and inhibitors. In the biological context, self-organized patterning is challenged by spatial heterogeneities ('noise') inherent to biological systems. How spatial variability impacts the periodic patterning mechanism and how it can be buffered to ensure precise patterning is not well understood. We examine the effect of spatial heterogeneity on the periodic patterning of the fruit fly eye, an organ composed of ∼800 miniature eye units (ommatidia) whose periodic arrangement along a hexagonal lattice self-organizes during early stages of fly development. The patterning follows a two-step process, with an initial formation of evenly spaced clusters of ∼10 cells followed by a subsequent refi

SUBMITTER: Gavish A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4942416 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature