A Network Model For Sea Urchin Development

The sea urchin embryo developmental gene regulatory network has been a subject of experimental study for decades. While current knowledge of the network is incomplete, boolean network models with autonomous updating can reveal dynamical features of the known network. Our analysis of such a model based on the network provided by Davidson et al [http://sugp.caltech.edu/endomes/index.html] shows that, with the suggested initial inputs and certain sets of logic functions that are consistent with the known regulatory relations, a 3-cell system settles into an attractor that corresponds to the 3 different cell fates expected for the organism. The attractor is not sensitive to modest variations in the time delay parameters.