dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaModel for the robust establishment of precise proportions in the early Drosophila embryo
| Authors | Tinri Aegerter-Wilmsen, Christof M. Aegerter, Ton Bisseling |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0411018 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0411018 |
Abstract
During embryonic development, a spatial pattern is formed in which proportions are established precisely. As an early pattern formation step in Drosophila embryos, an anterior-posterior gradient of Bicoid (Bcd) induces hunchback (hb) expression (Driever et al. 1989; Tautz et al. 1988). In contrast to the Bcd gradient, the Hb profile includes information about the scale of the embryo. Furthermore, the resulting hb expression pattern shows a much lower embryo-to-embryo variability than the Bcd gradient (Houchmandzadeh et al. 2002). An additional graded posterior repressing activity could theoretically account for the observed scaling. However, we show that such a model cannot produce the observed precision in the Hb boundary, such that a fundamentally different mechanism must be at work. We describe and simulate a model that can account for the observed precise generation of the scaled Hb profile in a highly robust manner. The proposed mechanism includes Staufen (Stau), an RNA binding protein that appears essential to precision scaling (Houchmandzadeh et al. 2002). In the model, Stau is released from both ends of the embryo and relocalises hb RNA by increasing its mobility. This leads to an effective transport of hb away from the respective Stau sources. The balance between these opposing effects then gives rise to scaling and precision. Considering the biological importance of robust precision scaling and the simplicity of the model, the same principle may be employed more often during development.
{
"annotation_id": "8d471ec9-4bbe-4196-8838-fcd7642e051b",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:31.747000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:31.747000Z",
"file_hash": "d889c0a79708473a2fed717d26c44a3b2fe40b4a9dde2c8a293276a52aedf9e7",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "During embryonic development, a spatial pattern is formed in which\nproportions are established precisely. As an early pattern formation step in\nDrosophila embryos, an anterior-posterior gradient of Bicoid (Bcd) induces\nhunchback (hb) expression (Driever et al. 1989; Tautz et al. 1988). In contrast\nto the Bcd gradient, the Hb profile includes information about the scale of the\nembryo. Furthermore, the resulting hb expression pattern shows a much lower\nembryo-to-embryo variability than the Bcd gradient (Houchmandzadeh et al.\n2002). An additional graded posterior repressing activity could theoretically\naccount for the observed scaling. However, we show that such a model cannot\nproduce the observed precision in the Hb boundary, such that a fundamentally\ndifferent mechanism must be at work. We describe and simulate a model that can\naccount for the observed precise generation of the scaled Hb profile in a\nhighly robust manner. The proposed mechanism includes Staufen (Stau), an RNA\nbinding protein that appears essential to precision scaling (Houchmandzadeh et\nal. 2002). In the model, Stau is released from both ends of the embryo and\nrelocalises hb RNA by increasing its mobility. This leads to an effective\ntransport of hb away from the respective Stau sources. The balance between\nthese opposing effects then gives rise to scaling and precision. Considering\nthe biological importance of robust precision scaling and the simplicity of the\nmodel, the same principle may be employed more often during development.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0411018",
"authors": [
"Tinri Aegerter-Wilmsen",
"Christof M. Aegerter",
"Ton Bisseling"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.CB"
],
"title": "Model for the robust establishment of precise proportions in the early Drosophila embryo",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0411018"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "5170ef37-9a13-4c18-8203-b6a309e691e4",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}