From local resynchronization to global pattern recovery in the zebrafish segmentation clock

Tissue-scale developmental patterns are often generated by local cellular interactions and global tissue deformation. An example is gene expression rhythms in vertebrate, termed the segmentation clock. The oscillatory spatial pattern of the segmentation clock across a tissue determines the timing of body segment formation. In this seminar, we discuss pattern recovery in the zebrafish segmentation clock after perturbation in oscillator coupling. To predict pattern recovery in embryos, we develop a physical model that describes both cell mechanics and genetic oscillations. We show that the physical model explains experimentally observed intermingled segmental defects, and their axial distributions in different embryonic developmental stages. Our analysis suggests that pattern recovery in developing tissues occurs at two scales; local pattern formation and transport of these patterns through tissue morphogenesis.