Lateral inhibition mediated by Notch signalling in Drosophila intestinal stem cells: analysis of a mathematical model

ROSA MARTÍNEZ CORRAL; NARA GUISONI; JOAQUÍN DE NAVASCUÉS; ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ ARIAS; JORDI GARCÍA-OJALVO

Conferencia; European Conference on Complex Systems (ECCS2013); 2013

Drosophila intestinal stem cells (ISCs) self-renew and generate enteroblasts (EB), which differentiate. Experimental data suggests that ISC division is symmetric and cell fate is determined shortly afterwards by Delta-Notch signalling, resulting into an ISC-ISC, EB-EB or ISC-EB pair. We analyse a standard mathematical model of Delta-Notch signalling between a pair of cells in a biologically plausible parameter space and show that the Delta-Notch feedback is sufficient to determine both symmetric and asymmetric outcomes. This depends on the parameter values, which reflect biological factors like mutual activation or repression efficiency of the Delta-Notch system.