Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 30: Tissue
BP 30.2: Talk
Thursday, March 14, 2013, 15:30–15:45, H43
Interplay of tissue extension and pattern formation during vertebrate segmentation — •David J. Jörg1, Luis G. Morelli2, Andrew C. Oates3, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany — 2Departamento de Física, FCEyN UBA and IFIBA, Conicet; Pabellón 1, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina — 3Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstr. 108, 01307 Dresden, Germany
During embryonic development of vertebrates, the elongating body axis is segmented into somites, precursors of the vertebrae, which appear sequentially. This process is coordinated by a tissue level patterning system based on cell-autonomous genetic oscillators, the segmentation clock. We develop a continuum theory of coupled phase oscillators that takes into account position-dependent tissue extension. This tissue extension corresponds to a cell flow field that enters the description of the phase dynamics through a convective term. We show that our theory can account for the key features of dynamic gene expression patterns observed in experiments.