Morphogen transport in epithelia

We present a general theoretical framework to discuss mechanisms of morphogen transport and gradient formation in a cell layer. Trafficking events on the cellular scale lead to transport on larger scales. We discuss in particular the case of transcytosis where morphogens undergo repeated rounds of internalization into cells and recycling. Based on a description on the cellular scale, we derive effective nonlinear transport equations in one and two dimensions which are valid on larger scales. We derive analytic expressions for the concentration dependence of the effective diffusion coefficient and the effective degradation rate. We discuss the effects of a directional bias on morphogen transport and those of the coupling of the morphogen and receptor kinetics. Furthermore, we discuss general properties of cellular transport processes such as the robustness of gradients and relate our results to recent experiments on the morphogen Decapentaplegic (Dpp) that acts in the wing disk of the fruit fly Drosophila. © 2007 The American Physical Society