Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 30: Cell Adhesion and Migration, Multicellular Systemadhesion and Migration, Multicellular Systems II

BP 30.2: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2020, 10:00–10:15, HÜL 386

Embryonic Inversion in Volvox carteri: The Flipping and Peeling of Elastic Lips — •Pierre A. Haas and Raymond E. Goldstein — Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

The embryos of the green alga Volvox carteri are spherical sheets of cells that turn themselves inside out at the close of their development through a program of cell shape changes. This process of inversion is a simple model for the cell sheet deformations in the development of higher organisms. Inversion starts with four lips opening up at the anterior pole of the cell sheet; these lips then flip over, and peel back to invert the embryo. Experimental studies have revealed that inversion is arrested in mutants or if some of these cell shape changes are inhibited chemically, but the mechanical basis for these observations has remained unclear. We analyze the mechanics of this inversion by deriving an averaged elastic theory for the cell sheet and the lips in particular and we interpret the experimental observations in terms of the mechanics and evolution of inversion [1].

[1] P. A. Haas and R. E. Goldstein, Phys. Rev. E 98, 052415 (2018)