Title: Modeling Dynamics of Shadow Enhancer Pairs During Drosophila Development

Abstract: Critical developmental control genes in Drosophila are known to be regulated by pairs of proximal and distal enhancers. However, interactions among enhancer pairs are not well-understood.  We propose a mathematical model to investigate the interdependence between enhancer pairs of krüppel and their role in Drosophila development robustness. Experimental data from reporter genes of the proximal or distal enhancer and constructs of duplicated enhancers are used in parameter fitting and validation of the model. Stochastic simulations were found to recapitulate the transcriptional bursting observed for krüppel. In particular, we found that several experimental measurements were qualitatively replicated by our model, including allele correlation and noise levels from different constructs. The high level of agreement with experimental data suggests that this is a viable model for providing insight into shadow enhancer pairs and their role in development.