Developmental Cell
Volume 35, Issue 4, 23 November 2015, Pages 405-417
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Article
Semi-permeable Diffusion Barriers Enhance Patterning Robustness in the C. elegans Germline

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Highlights

  • Diffusion barriers in the C. elegans germline syncytium shape long-range diffusion

  • Stem cells and their descendants make non-autonomous differentiation decisions

  • Expression of Notch is noisy in the distal half of the germline mitotic zone

  • Diffusion, barriers, and negative feedback provide robustness against noise in Notch

Summary

Positional information derived from local morphogen concentration plays an important role in patterning. A key question is how morphogen diffusion and gene expression regulation shape positional information into an appropriate profile with suitably low noise. We address this question using a model systemthe C. elegans germlinewhose regulatory network has been well characterized genetically but whose spatiotemporal dynamics are poorly understood. We show that diffusion within the germline syncytium is a critical control of stem cell differentiation and that semi-permeable diffusion barriers present at key locations make it possiblein combination with a feedback loop in the germline regulatory networkfor mitotic zone size to be robust against spatial noise in Notch signaling. Spatial averaging within compartments defined by diffusion barriers is an advantageous patterning strategy, which attenuates noise while still allowing for sharp transitions between compartments. This strategy could apply to other organs.

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5

Present address: Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research, Center for Quantitative Biology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

6

Present address: Mirus Bio, Madison, WI 53719, USA