Mechanisms of developmental robustness

We present a review of noise buffering mechanisms responsible for developmental robustness. We focus on functions of chaperone Hsp90, miRNA, and cross-regulation of gap genes in Drosophila. The noise buffering mechanisms associated with these functions represent specific examples of the developmental canalization, reducing the phenotypical variability in presence of either genetic or environmental perturbations. We demonstrate that robustness often appears as a function of a network of interacting elements and that the system level approach is needed to understand the mechanisms of noise filtering.