Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 17: Physics of Physarum polycephalum and Other Slime Molds - Joint Focus Session (BP/DY) organized by Hans-Günther Döbereiner

DY 17.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 11:30–11:55, SCH A251

Physarum polycephalum single cells proceed through variable trajectories of gene expression to commitment and differentiation — •Wolfgang Marwan — Magdeburg Centre for Systems Biology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg

Physarum polycephalum multinucleate giant plasmodial cells with their naturally synchronous population of nuclei provide ample homogeneous biological material for the analysis of signaling and gene expression dynamics at the single cell level. The developmental program of sporulation was triggered by a brief pulse of far-red light. By taking samples at different time points after the stimulus pulse, we followed how the gene expression pattern changes during commitment and differentiation. Time-dependent patterns of differential gene regulation showed that developmental trajectories were highly variable between individual cells. Differentiation control mutants that are locked in the proliferative state responded to the stimulus pulse by taking altered trajectories of gene expression that did not lead to sporulation. The results are discussed in the context of a Waddington-type quasipotential landscape of cell differentiation and the impact of mutations on its topology. We further discuss how Physarum polycephalum can contribute to a data-driven theoretically sound dynamic systems approach to the regulatory control of eukaryotic cell differentiation at genome-wide scale.