Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 8: Poster I
BP 8.16: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2020, 17:30–19:30, P2/1OG
The role of geometry and cell-cell communication in the migration of anterior visceral endoderm cells — Jonathan Fiorentino1,2,3 and •Antonio Scialdone1,2,3 — 1IES, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany — 2IFE, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany — 3ICB, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany
The migration of Anterior Visceral Endoderm (AVE) cells during early mouse embryonic development is crucial for the establishment of an anterior-posterior axis. AVE cells might move in response to a shallow gradient of a molecular cue. Prior to migration, they form multi-cellular rosettes, structures in which five or more cells meet at a central point, whose functional role is still unknown.
Relying on the Local Excitation Global Inhibition model (LEGI), which considers the presence of a local and a global molecular reporter as the mechanism of gradient sensing, we explore the hypothesis that rosettes' formation enhances cell-cell communication, increasing the cells' ability to measure external signals.
We extend the LEGI model to a 2D system where all the cells or only a subset of them can exchange molecular signals. We characterize the gradient sensing ability of cells adopting different geometric configurations, which suggests that the spatial arrangements of AVE cells in the embryo likely maximize their ability to measure weak gradients of external signals. Furthermore, we identify the transcriptional differences between AVE and VE cells and the active signalling pathways through the analysis of single-cell RNA-sequencing data collected from mouse embryos at the migration stage.