Robust selection of sensory organ precursors by the Notch-Delta pathway

The patterning of multicellular organisms is robust to environmental, genetic, or stochastic fluctuations. Mathematical modeling is instrumental in identifying mechanisms supporting this robustness. The principle of lateral inhibition, whereby a differentiating cell inhibits its neighbors from adopting the same fate, is frequently used for selecting a single cell out of a cluster of equipotent cells. For example, Sensory Organ Precursors (SOP) in the fruit-fly Drosophila implement lateral inhibition by activating the Notch-Delta pathway. We discuss parameters affecting the rate of errors in this process, and the mechanism (inhibitory cis interaction between Notch and Delta) predicted to reduce this error.