Modelling Time-Dependent Acquisition of Positional Information

Methods Mol Biol. 2018:1863:281-301. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-8772-6_16.

Abstract

Theoretical and computational modelling are crucial to understand dynamics of embryonic development. In this tutorial chapter, we describe two models of gene networks performing time-dependent acquisition of positional information under control of a dynamic morphogen: a toy-model of a bistable gene under control of a morphogen, allowing for the numerical computation of a simple Waddington's epigenetic landscape, and a recently published model of gap genes in Tribolium under control of multiple enhancers. We present detailed commented implementations of the models using python and jupyter notebooks.

Keywords: Modelling; Multistability; Ordinary differential equations; Positional information; Python; Seg-mentation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Computer Simulation
  • Embryonic Development
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic
  • Epigenesis, Genetic*
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Gene Regulatory Networks*
  • Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / metabolism*
  • Morphogenesis*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Software
  • Time Factors
  • Tribolium / genetics

Substances

  • Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins