Delta/Notch signaling level is decoded through transcriptional burst duration during muscle progenitor specification

In adjacent Drosophila adult muscle progenitor populations, IFM progenitors decode higher Delta/Notch signaling into longer but less frequent Notch-dependent transcriptional bursts than DFM progenitors.

• Why it matters: Quantitative differences in pathway activity must be translated into distinct gene-expression programs during myogenesis, but the decoding logic linking signal level to transcriptional dynamics is unclear.
• What they did: The study used a Notch-responsive MS2 reporter to track transcriptional bursts in living AMPs and manipulated epithelial Delta levels to equalize Notch activation between IFM and DFM.
• The result: Equalizing epithelial Delta abolished population differences in Notch-dependent transcriptional activity and protein levels of Notch target genes, implying transcriptional bursting duration mediates signal-level decoding.

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