Stochastic modelling and simulation of coupled autoregulated oscillators in a multicellular environment: The her1/her7 genes

Abstract

Delays are an important feature in temporal models of genetic regulation due to slow biochemical processes such as transcription and translation. In this paper we show how to model intrinsic noise effects in a delayed setting. As a particular application we apply these ideas to modelling somite segmentation in zebrafish across a number of cells in which two linked oscillatory genes her1 and her7 are synchronized via Notch signalling between the cells. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.