Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria

Abstract Diverse mechanisms have been proposed to explain biological pattern formation. Regardless of their specific molecular interactions, the majority of these mechanisms require morphogen gradients as the spatial cue, which are either predefined or generated as a part of the patterning process....

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Main Authors: Stephen Payne, Bochong Li, Yangxiaolu Cao, David Schaeffer, Marc D Ryser, Lingchong You
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2013-10-01
Series:Molecular Systems Biology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2013.55
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author Stephen Payne
Bochong Li
Yangxiaolu Cao
David Schaeffer
Marc D Ryser
Lingchong You
author_facet Stephen Payne
Bochong Li
Yangxiaolu Cao
David Schaeffer
Marc D Ryser
Lingchong You
author_sort Stephen Payne
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Diverse mechanisms have been proposed to explain biological pattern formation. Regardless of their specific molecular interactions, the majority of these mechanisms require morphogen gradients as the spatial cue, which are either predefined or generated as a part of the patterning process. However, using Escherichia coli programmed by a synthetic gene circuit, we demonstrate here the generation of robust, self‐organized ring patterns of gene expression in the absence of an apparent morphogen gradient. Instead of being a spatial cue, the morphogen serves as a timing cue to trigger the formation and maintenance of the ring patterns. The timing mechanism enables the system to sense the domain size of the environment and generate patterns that scale accordingly. Our work defines a novel mechanism of pattern formation that has implications for understanding natural developmental processes.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1744-4292
language English
publishDate 2013-10-01
publisher Springer Nature
record_format Article
series Molecular Systems Biology
spelling doaj-art-fefdd447797a43328e2af11b7faee3192025-08-20T03:42:11ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922013-10-019111010.1038/msb.2013.55Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteriaStephen Payne0Bochong Li1Yangxiaolu Cao2David Schaeffer3Marc D Ryser4Lingchong You5Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Mathematics, Duke UniversityDepartment of Mathematics, Duke UniversityDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Duke UniversityAbstract Diverse mechanisms have been proposed to explain biological pattern formation. Regardless of their specific molecular interactions, the majority of these mechanisms require morphogen gradients as the spatial cue, which are either predefined or generated as a part of the patterning process. However, using Escherichia coli programmed by a synthetic gene circuit, we demonstrate here the generation of robust, self‐organized ring patterns of gene expression in the absence of an apparent morphogen gradient. Instead of being a spatial cue, the morphogen serves as a timing cue to trigger the formation and maintenance of the ring patterns. The timing mechanism enables the system to sense the domain size of the environment and generate patterns that scale accordingly. Our work defines a novel mechanism of pattern formation that has implications for understanding natural developmental processes.https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2013.55morphogenpattern formationsynthetic biologysystems biologytemporal control
spellingShingle Stephen Payne
Bochong Li
Yangxiaolu Cao
David Schaeffer
Marc D Ryser
Lingchong You
Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
Molecular Systems Biology
morphogen
pattern formation
synthetic biology
systems biology
temporal control
title Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
title_full Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
title_fullStr Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
title_full_unstemmed Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
title_short Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
title_sort temporal control of self organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
topic morphogen
pattern formation
synthetic biology
systems biology
temporal control
url https://doi.org/10.1038/msb.2013.55
work_keys_str_mv AT stephenpayne temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria
AT bochongli temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria
AT yangxiaolucao temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria
AT davidschaeffer temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria
AT marcdryser temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria
AT lingchongyou temporalcontrolofselforganizedpatternformationwithoutmorphogengradientsinbacteria