Artificial Selection on Egg Size Perturbs Early Pattern Formation in Drosophila Melanogaster

Miles, Cecelia M.; Lott, Susan E.; Hendriks, Cris L. Luengo; Ludwig, Michael; Manu, Manu; Williams, Calvin L.; Kreitman, Martin

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01088.x

Cited by 46 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…12 This hypothesized correlation was recently observed experimentally 13 through quantitative measurements of bcd mRNA in large and small embryos from selected Drosophila lines. 24 Since our model is based on Bcd diffusion and degradation while incorporating relevant, biologically realistic features of the embryo, our results suggest that the diffusion model-despite the inadequacies of its idealized form in fully capturing Bcd gradient properties-remains a . All other parameters used here were the same as in the main model described in reference 12, except the center coordinate of the bcd mrNA sphere (55 μm in current work).…”

Section: Bcd Gradient Formation Simulated In a Biologically Realisticmentioning

confidence: 97%

Morphogen gradient formation and action

Liu

2011

Fly

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Section: Bcd Gradient Formation Simulated In a Biologically Realisticmentioning

confidence: 97%

Morphogen gradient formation and action

Liu

2011

Fly

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“…If the nuclei controlled morphogen decay, the increased density of nuclei in shorter species would lead to a dynamic shortening of the intrinsic Bcd length scale. However, a role for nuclei as a mediator of scaling, either within or between species, conflicts with measurements of the gradient during cycles 10-14, which appears to be temporally and spatially invariant, even though the number of nuclei increases 16-fold (Gregor et al, 2007;Miles et al, 2011;Coppey et al, 2007). Another possibility that has been considered is that evolution has acted on the lifetime of Bcd molecules in each species, which leads to a broader range in larger embryos with more stable Bcd molecules, or a shorter range in smaller embryos with less stable Bcd molecules (Gregor et al, 2008).…”

Section: Potential Examples Of Flux Optimization: Scaling Of the Antementioning

confidence: 99%

“…An early suggestion to account for this interspecies scaling of the Bicoid gradient was based on the observation that the total number of nuclei between species that differed by approximately fivefold in length was nearly constant, because they undergo the same number of division cycles (Gregor et al, 2005). As nuclei in the dipteran species studied are localized at the embryonic cortex, one possibility was that nuclei play a role in the modulation of Bcd decay (Gregor et al, 2005;Gregor et al, 2007;Umulis, 2009;Miles et al, 2011). If the decay rate is proportional to nuclear density, if the number of nuclei remains constant, and if transport is limited to the embryonic cortex, then scaling of the gradient naturally emerges as a property of the patterning system (Umulis et al, 2008;Gregor et al, 2007;Umulis, 2009).…”

Section: Potential Examples Of Flux Optimization: Scaling Of the Antementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of scaling in pattern formation

2013

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Many organisms and their constituent tissues and organs vary substantially in size but differ little in morphology; they appear to be scaled versions of a common template or pattern. Such scaling involves adjusting the intrinsic scale of spatial patterns of gene expression that are set up during development to the size of the system. Identifying the mechanisms that regulate scaling of patterns at the tissue, organ and organism level during development is a longstanding challenge in biology, but recent molecular-level data and mathematical modeling have shed light on scaling mechanisms in several systems, including Drosophila and Xenopus. Here, we investigate the underlying principles needed for understanding the mechanisms that can produce scale invariance in spatial pattern formation and discuss examples of systems that scale during development.

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“…Individual inbred lines from selected population cages were established through subsequent brother-sister crosses (Cheung et al, 2011;Miles et al, 2011). The current report focuses specifically on embryos from two inbred lines: Line 2.49.3 and Line 9.31.2, which have large and small eggs, respectively.…”

Section: Fly Strainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation of the length scale and amplitude of the Bicoid gradient profile to achieve robust patterning in abnormally large Drosophila melanogaster embryos

et al. 2014

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The formation of patterns that are proportional to the size of the embryo is an intriguing but poorly understood feature of development. Molecular mechanisms controlling such proportionality, or scaling, can be probed through quantitative interrogations of the properties of morphogen gradients that instruct patterning. Recent studies of the Drosophila morphogen gradient Bicoid (Bcd), which is required for anterior-posterior (AP) patterning in the early embryo, have uncovered two distinct ways of scaling. Whereas between-species scaling is achieved by adjusting the exponential shape characteristic of the Bcd gradient profile, namely, its length scale or length constant (λ), within-species scaling is achieved through adjusting the profile's amplitude, namely, the Bcd concentration at the anterior (B 0 ). Here, we report a case in which Drosophila melanogaster embryos exhibit Bcd gradient properties uncharacteristic of their size. The embryos under investigation were from a pair of inbred lines that had been artificially selected for egg size extremes. We show that B 0 in the large embryos is uncharacteristically low but λ is abnormally extended. Although the large embryos have more total bcd mRNA than their smaller counterparts, as expected, its distribution is unusually broad. We show that the large and small embryos develop gene expression patterns exhibiting boundaries that are proportional to their respective lengths. Our results suggest that the large-egg inbred line has acquired compensating properties that counteract the extreme length of the embryos to maintain Bcd gradient properties necessary for robust patterning. Our study documents, for the first time to our knowledge, a case of within-species Bcd scaling achieved through adjusting the gradient profile's exponential shape characteristic, illustrating at a molecular level how a developmental system can follow distinct operational paths towards the goal of robust and scaled patterning.

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Artificial Selection on Egg Size Perturbs Early Pattern Formation in Drosophila Melanogaster

Abstract: Pattern formation in

Cited by 46 publications

References 36 publications

Morphogen gradient formation and action

Morphogen gradient formation and action

Mechanisms of scaling in pattern formation

Adaptation of the length scale and amplitude of the Bicoid gradient profile to achieve robust patterning in abnormally large Drosophila melanogaster embryos

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