Reaction-Diffusion Approach to Somite Formation

With the aim to propose minimal models of vertebrae formation, we present two kinds of reaction-diffusion models, the first one of clock-and-wavefront type and the second one of Turing type. A correspondence between the species of the reaction schemes and biologically relevant molecules known as morphogens will be proposed and the robustness of the spatial structures to internal fluctuations will be examined. The ability of the model of Turing type to reproduce experiments involving grafting of morphogen sources or sinks into embryos will be shown.