title: Periodic patterning of the Drosophila eye is stabilized by the diffusible activator Scabrous.
abstract: Generation of periodic patterns is fundamental to the differentiation of multiple tissues during development. How such patterns form robustly is still unclear. The Drosophila eye comprises ∼750 units, whose crystalline order is set during differentiation of the eye imaginal disc: an activation wave sweeping across the disc is coupled to lateral inhibition, sequentially selecting pro-neural cells. Using mathematical modelling, here we show that this template-based lateral inhibition is highly sensitive to spatial variations in biochemical parameters and cell sizes. We reveal the basis of this sensitivity, and suggest that it can be overcome by assuming a short-range diffusible activator. Clonal experiments identify Scabrous, a previously implicated inhibitor, as the predicted activator. Our results reveal the mechanism by which periodic patterning in the fly eye is stabilized against spatial variations, highlighting how the need to maintain robustness shapes the design of patterning circuits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.|Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Geha Mental Health Center, Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Rabin Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Bellinson Campus, Petah Tiqva 49100, Israel.
authors.forename: Avishai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gavish
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Arkadi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shwartz
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Geha Mental Health Center, Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Rabin Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Bellinson Campus, Petah Tiqva 49100, Israel.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schejter
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Ben-Zion
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Shilo
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Naama
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barkai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D054910:Compound Eye, Arthropod / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010507:Periodicity; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; C066579:sca protein, Drosophila