Setting the Clock for Fail-Safe Early Embryogenesis.
The embryogenesis of the small nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a remarkably robust self-organization phenomenon. Cell migration trajectories in the early embryo, for example, are well explained by mechanical cues that push cells into positions where they experience the least repulsive forces. Yet, how this mechanically guided progress in development is properly timed has remained elusive so far. Here, we show that cell volumes and division times are strongly anticorrelated during the early embryogenesis of C. elegans with significant differences between somatic cells and precursors of the germline. Our experimental findings are explained by a simple model that in conjunction with mechanical guidance can account for the fail-safe early embryogenesis of C. elegans.
Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
Rolf
R
Fickentscher
Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
Philipp
P
Struntz
Experimental Physics I, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstrasse 30, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany.
Matthias
M
Weiss
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology