SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 16: Systems Biophysics
BP 16.4: Talk
Wednesday, March 29, 2023, 12:15–12:30, BAR 0106
Stochastic dynamics of cell shape during cellular state transitions — •Wolfram Pönisch1, Iskra Yanakieva1, Aki Stubb2, Guillaume Salbreux3, and Ewa Paluch1 — 1Dept. of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK — 2Stem Cells and Metabolism Research Program, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland — 3Dept. of Genetics and Evolution, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
The development of an organism is characterized by a series of cellular state transitions where cells become increasingly specialized. Such state transitions are often accompanied by morphological changes and there are strong indications of coupling between a cell's shape and state. Here, we present a pipeline to quantify and analyse cell shapes as cells undergo the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). We apply our analysis pipeline to study how shape and fate are coupled during the EMT of MDCK cells. We confirm that cell morphology is closely associated with the state: While epithelial cells display spherical shapes, mesenchymal cells undergo spreading. After defining the distinct cellular shapes corresponding to cell states, we study how exactly the morphological features of a cell evolve during EMT. To this aim, we investigate trajectories of the morphological features of individual cells in a low-dimensional morphospace and describe the evolution of cellular shape as a Langevin process, allowing us to entangle the role of deterministic and stochastic morphogenetic forces. By integrating morphometric analysis into studies of cell state transitions, we aim to better understand the crosstalk between cell state and shape.