A Reduced Drosophila Model Whose Characteristic Behavior Scales Up

Figure 2

Merging for simple 3-node system in steady state. (a) Value of 𝑐 depends on value of 𝑏 which depends on value of 𝑎. The values of 𝑎 and 𝑏 are equal. (b) The (𝑏,𝑐) edge of (a) can be replaced by a new (𝑎,𝑐) edge; that is, the value of 𝑐 can depend on the value of 𝑎 (in the same way the value of 𝑐 did depend on the value of 𝑏 in (a)) without affecting the system behavior. Values of 𝑎, 𝑏, and 𝑐 are the same as in (a), but 𝑏 now has no output and thus plays no role in the system’s behavior. As such, 𝑏 and its incoming interaction(s) can be removed (as shown in (c)) without affecting the system. We refer to this process as the merging of 𝑎 and 𝑏.

(a)

(b)

(c)