title: Modeling somite scaling in small embryos in the framework of Turing patterns.
abstract: The adaptation of prevertebra size to embryo size is investigated in the framework of a reaction-diffusion model involving a Turing pattern. The reaction scheme and Fick's first law of diffusion are modified in order to take into account the departure from dilute conditions induced by confinement in smaller embryos. In agreement with the experimental observations of scaling in somitogenesis, our model predicts the formation of smaller prevertebrae or somites in smaller embryos. These results suggest that models based on Turing patterns cannot be automatically disregarded by invoking the question of maintaining proportions in embryonic development. Our approach highlights the nontrivial role that the solvent can play in biology.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS UMR No. 8621, 15 Rue Georges Clémenceau, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Signon
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.|SGGW, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nowakowski
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Sorbonne Universités, CNRS UMR No. 7600, 4 Place Jussieu, Case Courrier 121, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lemarchand
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D008954:Models, Biological; D019170:Somites / Q000196:embryology*