A mechanism for morphogen-controlled domain growth

J Math Biol. 2007 May;54(5):597-622. doi: 10.1007/s00285-006-0060-8. Epub 2006 Dec 16.

Abstract

Many developmental systems are organised via the action of graded distributions of morphogens. In the Drosophila wing disc, for example, recent experimental evidence has shown that graded expression of the morphogen Dpp controls cell proliferation and hence disc growth. Our goal is to explore a simple model for regulation of wing growth via the Dpp gradient: we use a system of reaction-diffusion equations to model the dynamics of Dpp and its receptor Tkv, with advection arising as a result of the flow generated by cell proliferation. We analyse the model both numerically and analytically, showing that uniform domain growth across the disc produces an exponentially growing wing disc.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Drosophila / growth & development*
  • Drosophila Proteins / physiology*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / physiology
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / physiology
  • Wings, Animal / cytology
  • Wings, Animal / growth & development*

Substances

  • Drosophila Proteins
  • Receptors, Cell Surface
  • dpp protein, Drosophila
  • tkv protein, Drosophila
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases