title: Signaling Delays Preclude Defects in Lateral Inhibition Patterning.
abstract: Lateral inhibition represents a well-studied example of biology's ability to self-organize multicellular spatial patterns with single-cell precision. Despite established biochemical mechanisms for lateral inhibition (e.g., Delta-Notch), it remains unclear how cell-cell signaling delays inherent to these mechanisms affect patterning outcomes. We investigate a compact model of lateral inhibition highlighting these delays and find, remarkably, that long delays can ensure defect-free patterning. This effect is underscored by an interplay with synchronous oscillations, cis interactions, and signaling strength. Our results suggest that signaling delays, though previously posited as a source of developmental defects, may in fact be a general regulatory knob for tuning developmental robustness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Glass
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaofan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Ingmar H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Riedel-Kruse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D004330:Drosophila; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch; C064045:delta protein