From Signaling to Patterning Polymorphism

Complex body structures emerge from patterned embryonic tissues. How these embryonic patterns are generated is a fundamental question of biology, with implications for the transformation of body structure throughout evolution and the development of inherited disease. Intriguingly, the same major biochemical components are often found in those two conceptually opposite scenarios, suggesting that dynamics and timing are the key factors determining the different patterning outcomes, a situation termed patterning polymorphism. For example, recent findings suggest that temporal signal inputs to same Notch receptor define its downstream responses. The other example is that both lateral inhibition and oscillator synchronization can be patterned by the same sets of Delta ligand and Notch receptor in zebrafish embryos. The core concept of patterning polymorphism is that different complex patterns can be generated from more-or-less homogeneous materials without significantly altering the basic topology, e.g. gene network. In other words, it is about how the tissue is patterned, rather than what the tissue is built from.



The central question is the complex patterns of biology - how these come into being during development despite the noisy environment. This topic intends to address several fundamental issues of tissue patterning polymorphism: (1) how does spatiotemporal dynamics contribute to tissue patterning; (2) what is the essential design and how to mimic the topology of signalling networks with various outcomes; (3) what controls flexibility versus robustness in output patterns in different pathways; (4) what are the key factors contributing to patterning polymorphism and the corresponding phenotypes.

Pattern formation is a topic that extends well beyond developmental biology. Self-organization patterns through local interactions between mobile agents is generally interested in, for example, spread of infectious diseases in epidemiology, population spatial patterns of ecological systems, and wireless network engineering. The concepts in developmental patterning have been in part inspired by research in these other fields, and progress in understanding how cells self-organize via local interactions should likewise contribute back to a better understanding of these fields.





Potential areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:

• Tissue patterning strategies and their dynamics, e.g. morphogen gradients, lateral inhibition, cell oscillation, reaction-diffusion systems, etc.

• New methods developed for studying or comparing the mechanisms of patterning polymorphism.

• bottom-up or engineering approaches, for example synthetic biology to generating new tissue patterns.

• Evo devo studies for understanding the evolutionary origins or conservations of tissue patterns

• Molecular mechanisms of endocrine cells in sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, and glucose handling.

• Systems biology to incorporate mathematical modeling or biophysics insights

• Links from patterning polymorphism during development to phenotypes at adulthood.

Original research, Reviews, Mini reviews are welcome.