BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 6: Systems Biology I
BP 6.5: Talk
Monday, March 22, 2021, 12:20–12:40, BPc
Long-range and rapid signalling gradient formation by cell-to-cell relay — •Johanna Dickmann1, Jochen Rink2, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany
Development, regeneration and tissue renewal are spectacular tissue patterning events. Tissue patterning, the adaptation of the correct cell fate at the correct position, requires information. This information can be provided by spatially graded distributions of signalling molecules, called signalling gradients. While the formation of signalling gradients is thought to result from diffusion and degradation in the context of embryonic development, it remains controversial how such signalling gradients can be generated on long length scales e.g. during regeneration. We introduce a relay mechanism for gradient formation in which the signal is propagated from cell to cell via a positive feedback loop. That is, each cell produces signalling molecules in response to receiving a signal. We show that polarised secretion of signalling molecules produced in response to the received signal results in an effective drift of signalling molecule concentration through the system, markedly accelerating the formation of signalling gradients. This way, the relay mechanism explains gradient formation on millimetre length scales within hours to days for physiological parameter choices.