Regensburg 2013 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 20: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems II (joint with DY)
BP 20.5: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 13. März 2013, 16:15–16:30, H43
Description of polarity reorientation in the wing of the fruit fly by liquid crystal hydrodynamics — •Matthias Merkel1, Andreas Sagenr2, Raphael Etournay2, Suzanne Eaton2, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
Epithelia are two-dimensional sheets of cells, which often exhibit large-scale patterns of planar cell polarity (PCP) in the tissue plane. Within a single cell, PCP is reflected in an anisotropic distribution of a class of proteins, called PCP proteins. We study PCP in the wing epithelium of the fruit fly. During development of the fly, two processes are observed: cell polarity reorients on large scales and a complex flow field reshapes the wing. This flow field includes a stereotypical pattern of tissue shear. We quantify polarity patterns in wild type and mutant wings. To interpret these patterns, we discuss a simple hydrodynamic model for polarity reorientation from liquid crystals theory. Our model consists of local polarity interactions and a coupling of polarity to tissue shear and tissue rotation. We find, that we can fit stationary states of our hydrodynamic description to the polarity patterns of the adult wings. These fits suggest that the sign of the coupling of polarity to tissue shear depends on the local expression of a PCP protein. We underpin our findings by numerical solutions of the polarity dynamics.