Turing models have been proposed to explain the emergence of digits during
limb development. However, so far the molecular components that would give rise
to Turing patterns are elusive. We have recently shown that a particular type
of receptor-ligand interaction can give rise to Schnakenberg-type Turing
patterns, which reproduce patterning during lung and kidney branching
morphogenesis. Recent knock-out experiments have identified Smad4 as a key
protein in digit patterning. We show here that the BMP-receptor interaction
meets the conditions for a Schnakenberg-type Turing pattern, and that the
resulting model reproduces available wildtype and mutant data on the expression
patterns of BMP, its receptor, and Fgfs in the apical ectodermal ridge (AER)
when solved on a realistic 2D domain that we extracted from limb bud images of
E11.5 mouse embryos. We propose that receptor-ligand-based mechanisms serve as
a molecular basis for the emergence of Turing patterns in many developing
tissues
