French flag model

Model of concentration gradient building up; fine yellow-orange outlines are cell boundaries.[1]
The diffusion of a morphogen in an elongated compartment. The three colors blue, white and red represent three concentration ranges of the initial morphogen, which can then activate three genes in a differentiated manner, and thus be at the origin of three different parts of the organism.

The French flag model is a conceptual definition of a morphogen, described by Lewis Wolpert in the 1960s.[2][3] A morphogen is defined as a signaling molecule that acts directly on cells (not through serial induction) to produce specific cellular responses dependent on morphogen concentration. During early development, morphogen gradients generate different cell types in distinct spatial order. French flag patterning is often found in combination with others: vertebrate limb development is one of the many phenotypes exhibiting French flag patterning overlapped with a complementary pattern (in this case Turing pattern).[4]

  1. ^ Knabe J.F., Nehaniv, C.L., Schilstra, M.J. (2008). Evolution and Morphogenesis of Differentiated Multicellular Organisms: Autonomously Generated Diffusion Gradients for Positional Information. Artificial Life XI: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Wolpert L (October 1969). "Positional information and the spatial pattern of cellular differentiation". J. Theor. Biol. 25 (1): 1–47. Bibcode:1969JThBi..25....1W. doi:10.1016/S0022-5193(69)80016-0. PMID 4390734.
  3. ^ Wolpert, Lewis; et al. (2007). Principles of development (3rd ed.). Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927536-6.
  4. ^ Sharpe, James; Green, Jeremy (2015). "Positional information and reaction-diffusion: two big ideas in developmental biology combine". Development. 142 (7): 1203–1211. doi:10.1242/dev.114991. hdl:10230/25028. PMID 25804733.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by razib.in