Linking the cell-cycle sliding-window model to oscillator phase and heat-shock phenotypes

Determine how the differential sliding-window mechanism used in the cell-cycle-based model of somitogenesis practically connects to the phase of the cell-cycle oscillator and accounts for heat shock–induced periodic anomalies, including mapping specific sensitive phases and reconciling them with somite commitment timing.

Background

The cell-cycle model proposes moving activation windows that induce pulses to switch bistable states, potentially explaining heat-shock phenotypes. However, the practical connection to the cell-cycle phase and the mapping of sensitive phases remain unresolved.

Clarifying this linkage would test whether cell-cycle–based timing can robustly induce somite formation and how periodic perturbations propagate through the proposed mechanism.