Figure 7. Embryonic cytoplasmic flows weakly affect the establishment of the Bicoid morphogenetic gradient.

A) Heatmap showing the Bicoid concentration profile in the embryo, and the characteristic half-moon shape with the concentration higher at the cortex than in the bulk. B) The concentration of Bicoid vs the (normalized) position along the AP axis for various cycles, as indicated in the color legend. NF stands for “No Flow”, i.e., situations where cytoplasmic flows were suppressed. Values are reported at the position of each nucleus. C) Experimental comparison of the Bicoid gradient at cell cycle 13 in wild-type and cullin-5 mutant embryos, where flows are strongly suppressed [29]. Datapoints were binned in each case, with the continuous line and error bars representing each bin’s average and standard error respectively.