Rapid transcriptional response to a dynamic morphogen by time integration
Brantley, S. E.; Janssen, J.; Chao, A.; Vergassola, M.; Blythe, S. A.; Di Talia, S.
Show abstract
During development, cells must interpret extracellular signals with speed and accuracy. While morphogen gradients pattern tissues, how cells respond to dynamic morphogens remains unclear. Here, we investigate how dorsal patterning in the Drosophila embryo is specified by a rapidly evolving BMP gradient. Using a live reporter of BMP pathway activity and nascent transcription reporters, we find that gene expression is best predicted by time integration of BMP signaling, rather than instantaneous levels. However, in sog mutant embryos with broad BMP activity, integration alone fails to predict gene expression outside the normal domain. We show that the transcription factor Zen lowers the signaling threshold required for activation, enabling integration to drive rapid transcriptional responses even at low BMP levels. Together, these results suggest that cells interpret dynamic morphogen signals through the combined action of temporal integration and spatial competence, providing a framework for robust pattern formation on fast developmental timescales.
Matching journals
The top 5 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.
Similar papers in this journal
- How enhancers regulate wavelike gene expression patterns: Novel enhancer prediction and live reporter systems identify an enhancer associated with the arrest of pair-rule waves in the short-germ beetle Tribolium 96%
- Levels of Notch-regulated transcription are modulated by tissue movements at gastrulation 96%
- Mechanical bistability of the mesoderm epithelium facilitates mesoderm invagination during Drosophila gastrulation 96%
Similar papers in this journal
- Cell polarity determinant Dlg1 facilitates epithelial invagination by promoting tissue-scale mechanical coordination 96%
- Optogenetic manipulation of nuclear Dorsal reveals temporal requirements and consequences for transcription 96%
- Dynamics of hunchback translation in real time and at single mRNA resolution in the Drosophila embryo 96%
Similar papers in this journal
- The homeodomain transcriptional regulator DVE-1 directs a program for synapse elimination during circuit remodeling 95%
- Characterising open chromatin identifies novel cis-regulatory elements important for paraxial mesoderm formation and axis extension 95%
- Histone demethylase Lsd1 is required for the differentiation of neural cells in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis 94%
Similar papers in this journal
Similar papers in this journal
"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.