Kinetic sculpting of the seven stripes of the Drosophila even-skipped gene

We used live imaging to visualize the transcriptional dynamics of the
Drosophila melanogaster even-skipped gene at single-cell and high temporal
resolution as its seven stripe expression pattern forms, and developed
tools to characterize and visualize how transcriptional bursting varies
over time and space. We find that despite being created by the independent
activity of five enhancers, even-skipped stripes are sculpted by the same
kinetic phenomena: a coupled increase of burst frequency and amplitude. By
tracking the position and activity of individual nuclei, we show that
stripe movement is driven by the exchange of bursting nuclei from the
posterior to anterior stripe flanks. Our work provides a conceptual,
theoretical and computational framework for dissecting pattern formation
in space and time, and reveals how the coordinated transcriptional
activity of individual nuclei shape complex developmental patterns.