Reconstitution of morphogen shuttling circuits

Developing tissues form spatial patterns by establishing concentration gradients of diffusible signaling proteins called morphogens. The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) morphogen pathway uses a family of extracellular modulators to reshape signaling gradients by actively “shuttling” ligands to different locations. It has remained unclear what circuits are sufficient to enable shuttling, what other patterns they can generate, and whether shuttling is evolutionarily conserved. Here, using a synthetic, bottom-up approach, we compared the spatiotemporal dynamics of different extracellular circuits. Three proteins—Chordin, Twsg, and the BMP-1 protease—successfully displaced gradients by shuttling ligands away from the site of production. A mathematical model explained the different spatial dynamics of this and other circuits. Last, combining mammalian and Drosophila components in the same system suggests that shuttling is a conserved capability. Together, these results reveal principles through which extracellular circuits control the spatiotemporal dynamics of morphogen signaling.