Pattern Formation with a Compartmental Lateral Inhibition System

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compartmental lateral inhibition system that creates contrasting gene expression patterns between neighboring cell colonies, analyzed through a new steady-state pattern technique.

Contribution

It presents a novel compartmental lateral inhibition model and a method to analyze its steady-state patterns, demonstrating realistic contrasting gene expression patterns.

Findings

The system generates stable contrasting patterns.

Analysis confirms patterns within realistic parameters.

The technique predicts pattern formation in biological systems.

Abstract

We propose a compartmental lateral inhibition system that generates contrasting patterns of gene expression between neighboring compartments. The system consists of a set of compartments interconnected by channels. Each compartment contains a colony of cells that produce diffusible molecules to be detected by the neighboring colony, and each cell is equipped with an inhibitory circuit that reduces its production when the detected signal is stronger. We develop a technique to analyze the steady-state patterns emerging from this lateral inhibition system and apply it to a specific implementation. The analysis shows that the proposed system indeed exhibits contrasting patterns within realistic parameter ranges.