Precision of morphogen-driven tissue patterning during development is enhanced through contact-mediated cellular interactions

Abstract: Embryonic development involves pattern formation characterized by the emergence of spatially localized domains characterized by distinct cell fates resulting from differential gene expression. The boundaries demarcating these domains are precise and consistent within a species despite stochastic fluctuations in the morphogen molecular concentration that provides positional information to the cells, as well as, the intrinsic noise in molecular processes that interpret this information to guide fate determination. We show that local interactions between physically adjacent cells mediated by receptor-ligand binding utilizes the asymmetry between the fate-determining genes to yield a switch-like response to the global signal provided by the morphogen. This results in robust developmental outcomes with a consistent identity of the gene that is dominantly expressed at each cellular location, thereby substantially reducing the uncertainty in the location of the boundary between distinct fates.