Analysis of Bicoid production and degradation dynamics during Drosophila early development

DURRIEU, LUCÍA; SAUNDERS, TIMOTHY; KIRRMAIER, DANIEL; KNOP, MICHAEL; HUFNAGEL, LARS

Encuentro; EMBL- Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit Meeting; 2016

EMBL

It is becoming increasingly apparent that understanding patterning in development requires both spatial and temporal information. We have combined quantitative light-sheet microscopy with tandem fluorescent protein timers to characterize the formation of the gradient of the morphogen Bicoid, responsible for the anterior-posterior patterning of Drosophila. Here, we present a new analysis that allows to dissect changes in production and degradation. We found that during the early development, despite the rather constant gradient observed, succesive changes in production and degradation of Bicoid occur. However, a unique model structure (the SDD model) can describe our data all through this time, if these changes are accounted for. Our results introduce a new tool for exploring protein dynamics that is applicable to other systems.