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1: Science. 2007 Jan 26;315(5811):521-5.
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Kinetics of morphogen gradient formation.

Kicheva A, Pantazis P, Bollenbach T, Kalaidzidis Y, Bittig T, Jülicher F, González-Gaitán M.

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauer Strasse 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany.

In the developing fly wing, secreted morphogens such as Decapentaplegic (Dpp) and Wingless (Wg) form gradients of concentration providing positional information. Dpp forms a longer-range gradient than Wg. To understand how the range is controlled, we measured the four key kinetic parameters governing morphogen spreading: the production rate, the effective diffusion coefficient, the degradation rate, and the immobile fraction. The four parameters had different values for Dpp versus Wg. In addition, Dynamin-dependent endocytosis was required for spreading of Dpp, but not Wg. Thus, the cellular mechanisms of Dpp and Wingless spreading are different: Dpp spreading requires endocytic, intracellular trafficking.

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PMID: 17255514 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]