The importance of mechanical constraints for proper polarization and psuedo-cleavage furrow generation in the early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo.

ABSTRACT: Intracellular polarization, where a cell specifies a spatial axis by segregation of specific factors, is a fundamental biological process. In the early embryo of the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), polarization is often accompanied by deformations of the cortex, a highly contractile structure consisting of actin filaments cross-linked by the motor protein myosin (actomyosin). It has been suggested that the eggshell surrounding the early embryo plays a role in polarization although its function is not understood. Here we develop a mathematical model which couples a reaction-diffusion model of actomyosin dynamics with a phase field model of the cell cortex to implicitly track cell shape changes in the early C. elegans embryo. We investigate the potential rigidity effect of

SUBMITTER: Aras BS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6053242 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature