Collaborative Research: Dynamics of Morphogen Gradients

该项目描述了形态生成梯度的一系列理论和实验研究，形态生成梯度被定义为控制发育中组织中细胞分化的空间模式的化学物质的浓度场。胚胎发生的分子研究已经确定了不同系统中的形态梯度，如昆虫的体轴规格和哺乳动物新皮质的图案。目前对形态形成梯度的研究越来越多地朝着量化的方向发展，需要发展一个严格的理论框架，可以用来解释实验结果并指导对图案形成机制的系统水平分析。这个项目开发了这样一个框架，强调形态梯度形成的动力学。这项研究结合了对一类一般的形态梯度形成的反应扩散模型的严格的数学和计算分析，并将这些模型应用于果蝇胚胎中的特定图案形成事件。拟议工作的广泛影响包括为高度保守的生物过程发展一个通用的数学框架。拟议活动的主要成果之一是一套分析结果，可用于对各种发展系统中的模式形成动态进行粗略分析。拟议的理论和实验研究与教育计划的发展齐头并进，该计划在新兴的发育系统生物学领域提供跨学科培训。

The project describes a series of theoretical and experimental studies of morphogen gradients, defined as the concentration fields of chemical substances that control spatial patterns of cell differentiation in developing tissues. Molecular studies of embryogenesis have identified morphogen gradients in systems as diverse as body axes specification in insects and patterning of mammalian neocortex. Current studies of morphogen gradients move in an increasingly quantitative direction and demand the development of a rigorous theoretical framework that can be used to interpret experimental results and guide systems-level analyses of pattern formation mechanisms. This project develops such a framework, emphasizing the dynamics of morphogen gradient formation. This research combines rigorous mathematical and computational analysis of a general class of reaction-diffusion models of morphogen gradient formation and application of these models to a specific pattern formation event in Drosophila embryo.Broader impacts of proposed work include the development of a general mathematical framework for a highly conserved biological process. One of the main outcomes of proposed activity is a set of analytical results that can be used for the back-of-the-envelope analysis of pattern formation dynamics in a wide range of developmental systems. The proposed theoretical and experimental studies go hand-in-hand with the development of educational program that provides interdisciplinary training in the emerging field of developmental systems biology.