Abstract
Iterative joints are a hallmark of the tetrapod limb, and their positioning is a key step during limb development. Although the molecular regulation of joint formation is well studied, it remains unclear what controls the location, number and orientation (i.e. the pattern) of joints within each digit. Here, we propose the dot-stripe mechanism for joint patterning, comprising two coupled Turing systems inspired by published gene expression patterns. Our model can explain normal joint morphology in wild-type limbs, hyperphalangy in cetacean flippers, mutant phenotypes with misoriented joints and suggests a reinterpretation of the polydactylous Ichthyosaur fins as a polygonal joint lattice. By formulating a generic dot-stripe model, describing joint patterns rather than molecular joint markers, we demonstrate that the insights from the model should apply regardless of the biological specifics of the underlying mechanism, thus providing a unifying framework to interrogate joint patterning in the tetrapod limb.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | dev183699 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Development |
| Volume | 147 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 3 Mar 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Apr 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Author contributions: Conceptualization: J.C.S., T.W.H.; Methodology: J.C.S., T.W.H.; Formal analysis: J.C.S., T.W.H.; Writing - original draft: J.C.S., T.W.H.; Writing - review & editing: J.C.S., T.W.H.; Supervision: T.W.H.Funding: T.W.H. is supported by a Wellcome Strategic Award to study cell fate decisions (105031/D/14/Z), an EMBO long-term fellowship (ALTF 606-2018) and a Cancer Research UK, Cambridge Institute core grant (C9545/A29580). Open access funding provided by the University of Cambridge. Deposited in PMC for immediate release.
Keywords
- limb patterning
- mathematical modelling
- Turing patterns
Access to Document
- Scoones_etal_DB_A-Dot_Stripe_VOR
© 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
