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Symmetry breaking in development and stochastic gene expression

Chubb, JR; (2017) Symmetry breaking in development and stochastic gene expression. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Developmental Biology , 6 (6) , Article e284. 10.1002/wdev.284. Green open access

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Abstract

The prevailing emphasis in developmental biology since the expansion of the molecular biology age has been that developmental decisions are instructive. A cell differentiates to become a specific cell type because it receives a signal, whereas its neighbor that does not receive the signal adopts a different fate. This emphasis has been generally accepted, largely because of the success of this view in tractable invertebrate model organisms, and the widespread similarities in molecular regulation to the development of more complex species. An alternative emphasis, that cells make their own decisions, has until the past decade been conspicuously silent. Here I trace the re-emergence of our appreciation of single cell decision-making in development, and how widespread this phenomenon is likely to be. I will focus the discussion on the potential role of stochastic gene expression in generating differences between cells in the absence of simple instructive signals and highlight the complexity of systems proposed to involve this type of regulation. Finally, I will discuss the approaches required to fully test hypotheses that noisy gene regulation can be extrapolated through developmental time to accurately specify cell fate. For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

Type: Article
Title: Symmetry breaking in development and stochastic gene expression
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/wdev.284
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wdev.284
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Lab for Molecular Cell Bio MRC-UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1567716
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