Role of Delta-Notch lateral inhibition in Tip cell selection of tracheal branching morphogenesis of Drosophila.

The tracheal system of Drosophila is a complex branching network of epithelial tubes. It develops dynamically during embryogenesis. On the first step of the primary branching, several tracheal cells that receive fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) from signaling centers migrate from tracheal sacs, which are called Tip cells. Other cells that follow them are called Stalk cells. To decide which tracheal cells will differentiate into Tip cells or Stalk cells, positive feedback loop inside a cell and Delta-Notch lateral inhibition between tracheal cells are at work. We conjecture that this Delta-Notch interaction between nearest neighbor epithelial cells might help to decide a few cells that will become differentiated to Tip cells. To examine this conjecture, we constructed gene-protein network model where each component is given as mathematical model. In this seminar, I will introduce some previous researches related to the role of Delta-Notch lateral inhibition and show our results.