Travelling waves in somitogenesis: collective cellular properties emerge from time-delayed juxtacrine oscillation coupling
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Author
Date
2017Type
- Master Thesis
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
The sculpturing of the vertebrate body plan into segments begins with the sequential formation of somites in the presomitic mesoderm (PSM). The rhythmicity of this process is controlled by travelling waves of gene expression which sweep across the PSM. These kinetic waves emerge from coupled cellular oscillators and travel in the direction of an increasing gradient of oscillation period. The oscillations are driven by autorepression of HES/HER genes and are synchronized via Notch signalling. These emergent properties have been studied in various models of increasing complexity. We design a reduced mechanistic model of the zebrafish PSM oscillator that recapitulates oscillator entrainments and travelling wave formation in the presence of spatiotemporal time delay gradients. Our model shows that three key parameters, the autorepression delay, the juxtacrine coupling delay, and the coupling strength, are sufficient to understand the emergence of the collective period, the collective amplitude, and the synchronization of neighbouring HES/HER oscillators. Our theoretical framework allows us to integrate and dissect key collective properties emerging from coupled oscillators. These emergent properties are likely to represent a fundamental principle governing also other developmental processes such as neurogenesis and angiogenesis. Show more
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https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000283161Publication status
publishedPublisher
ETH ZurichOrganisational unit
03791 - Iber, Dagmar / Iber, Dagmar
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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