z-logo
open-access-imgOpen Access
Temporal control of self‐organized pattern formation without morphogen gradients in bacteria
Author(s) -
Payne Stephen,
Li Bochong,
Cao Yangxiaolu,
Schaeffer David,
Ryser Marc D,
You Lingchong
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular systems biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 8.523
H-Index - 148
ISSN - 1744-4292
DOI - 10.1038/msb.2013.55
Subject(s) - morphogen , biology , pattern formation , mechanism (biology) , neuroscience , gene , genetics , physics , quantum mechanics
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.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.
Having issues? You can contact us here