Cell chirality: emergence of asymmetry from cell culture.
Increasing evidence suggests that intrinsic cell chirality significantly contributes to the left-right (LR) asymmetry in embryonic development, which is a well-conserved characteristic of living organisms. With animal embryos, several theories have been established, but there are still controversies regarding mechanisms associated with embryonic LR symmetry breaking and the formation of asymmetric internal organs. Recently, in vitro systems have been developed to determine cell chirality and to recapitulate multicellular chiral morphogenesis on a chip. These studies demonstrate that chirality is indeed a universal property of the cell that can be observed with well-controlled experiments such as micropatterning. In this paper, we discuss the possible benefits of these in vitro systems to research in LR asymmetry, categorize available platforms for single-cell chirality and multicellular chiral morphogenesis, and review mathematical models used for in vitro cell chirality and its applications in in vivo embryonic development. These recent developments enable the interrogation of the intracellular machinery in LR axis establishment and accelerate research in birth defects in laterality.This article is part of the themed issue 'Provocative questions in left-right asymmetry'.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA wanq@rpi.edu.|Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.|Center for Modeling, Simulation and Imaging in Medicine, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Leo Q
LQ
Wan
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Amanda S
AS
Chin
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Kathryn E
KE
Worley
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.|Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Poulomi
P
Ray
D019521:Body Patterning; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D047108:Embryonic Development; D066298:In Vitro Techniques
cell chirality; cell polarity; left–right asymmetry; micro-contact printing; tissue morphogenesis