TY - JOUR T1 - Enhancer Responses to Similarly Distributed Antagonistic Gradients in Development A1 - Zinzen, Robert P A1 - Papatsenko, Dmitri Y1 - 2007/05/11 N2 - Author SummaryThe early development of the fruit fly embryo depends on an intricate but well-studied gene regulatory network. In fly eggs, maternally deposited gene products—morphogenes—form spatial concentration gradients. The graded distribution of the maternal morphogenes initiates a cascade of gene interactions leading to embryo development. Gradients of activators and repressors regulating common target genes may produce different outcomes depending on molecular mechanisms, mediating their function. Here, we describe quantitative mathematical models for the interplay between gradients of positive and negative transcriptional regulators—proteins, activating or repressing their target genes through binding the gene's regulatory DNA sequences. We predict possible spatial outcomes of the transcriptional antagonistic interactions in fly development and consider examples where the predicted cases may take place. JF - PLOS Computational Biology JA - PLOS Computational Biology VL - 3 IS - 5 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030084 SP - e84 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030084 ER -