title: Multiscale modeling and analysis of planar cell polarity in the Drosophila wing.
abstract: Modeling across multiple scales is a current challenge in Systems Biology, especially when applied to multicellular organisms. In this paper, we present an approach to model at different spatial scales, using the new concept of Hierarchically Colored Petri Nets (HCPN). We apply HCPN to model a tissue comprising multiple cells hexagonally packed in a honeycomb formation in order to describe the phenomenon of Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) signaling in Drosophila wing. We have constructed a family of related models, permitting different hypotheses to be explored regarding the mechanisms underlying PCP. In addition our models include the effect of well-studied genetic mutations. We have applied a set of analytical techniques including clustering and model checking over time series of primary and secondary data. Our models support the interpretation of biological observations reported in the literature.
authors: School of Information Systems, Computing, and Mathematics, Brunel University, DISC, St Johns Building, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, United Kingdom.
authors: Qian
authors: Q
authors: Gao
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Gilbert
authors: Monika
authors: M
authors: Heiner
authors: Fei
authors: F
authors: Liu
authors: Daniele
authors: D
authors: Maccagnola
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Tree
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods*; D014921:Wings, Animal / Q000166:cytology*