#30 · Systems biology

Compact rule sets link developmental mechanisms to reproducible patterns and phenotypes

The dominant thread is the use of compact, parameterized models to connect underlying developmental rules to observable reproducibility and phenotypic differences. An agent-based C. elegans model built from four shared components generates both network and traveling-wave collective phases and reproduces N2 versus DA609 differences. Combining live imaging with a minimal four-parameter stochastic branching model shows that Drosophila neuron classes differ in subdiffusive branch dynamics. In a multi-scale Cellular Potts gene-regulatory model, evolved morphologies indicate that cell differentiation underpins reproducible morphogenesis across simulations. An evolved abstract regulatory model further shows phenocopying in developmental trajectories that is absent from random-sampling null models. The newer element is the use of evolution and null-model comparison to test whether reproducibility and phenocopying arise from the rules themselves, although the items do not share a single mechanism.