Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 18: Poster VI

BP 18.1: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 14:00–16:00, P2/2OG

Altering the early development of Caenorhabditis Elegans via laser ablation — •Vincent Borne, Philipp Strunz, and Matthias Weiss — Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth, Germany

While the role of biochemical signaling during embryonic development has been extensively studied, the role of mechanical cues in this process are still only partially understood. For the early development of the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, mechanical forces have been shown to be key for a proper cell arrangement in the embryo until gastrulation: Based on mutual pushing forces of cells within the confining egg shell, a simple relaxation model was shown to be capable of predicting cell trajectories and final positions. Here we have probed the validity of this model when perturbing the nematode's embryogenesis at very early stages via laser microsurgery. Experimental results observed after ablating early precursor cells suggest that an extension of the model, e.g. updating the cortical stiffness of cells for reproducing correct wetting angles between neighboring cells, is required. Preliminary results on developing such an extended model, based on dissipative particle dynamics simulations, are discussed.