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A Model of Somitogenesis

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Abstract

A quantitative description of the molecular networks that sustain morphogenesis is one of the main challenges of developmental biology. In particular, a molecular understanding of the segmentation of the antero-posterior axis in vertebrates has yet to be achieved. This process known as somitogenesis is believed to result from the interactions between a well-studied genetic oscillator and a less established posterior-moving determination wavefront. Here we describe a molecular model for somitogenesis that couples a moving morphogen wavefront with the somitogenetic oscillator. The wavefront is due to a switch between stable states that results from reciprocal negative feedbacks of Retinoic Acid (RA) on the activation of a kinase ErK and of ErK on RA synthesis. We suggest a molecular mechanism by which that switch can be triggered by the somitogenetic clock. The model quantitatively accounts for the shortening of the pre-somitic mesoderm (PSM) in zebrafish in response to the decrease during somitogenesis in the concentration of a morphogen (Fgf8). The generality and robustness of the model allows for its validation (or invalidation) in other model organisms.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A.Goldbeter and V.Hakim for constructive criticism of our model. This work was partially supported by Grants ANR-10-LABX-54 MEMO LIFE and ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02 PSL* Research University and PSL Grants SuperLINE and MicroGUT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LPS-ENS, PSL, CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, Paris, 75005, France

    Weiting Zhang, Bertrand Ducos & David Bensimon

  2. IBENS, PSL, CNRS, 46 rue d’Ulm, Paris, 75005, France

    Weiting Zhang, Bertrand Ducos & David Bensimon

  3. Children’s Cancer Research Institute, Vienna, Austria

    Vanessa Mayr & Martin Distel

  4. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA, Los Angeles, 90094, USA

    David Bensimon

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  1. Weiting Zhang
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  2. Vanessa Mayr
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  3. Bertrand Ducos
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  4. Martin Distel
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  5. David Bensimon
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Correspondence to David Bensimon.

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Zhang, W., Mayr, V., Ducos, B. et al. A Model of Somitogenesis. J Stat Phys 175, 729–742 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-019-02265-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-019-02265-9

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