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Morphogenetic degeneracies in the actomyosin cortex.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Naganathan, Sundar Ram  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5106-8687
Fürthauer, Sebastian  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9581-5963
Fievet, Bruno Thomas 

Abstract

One of the great challenges in biology is to understand the mechanisms by which morphogenetic processes arise from molecular activities. We investigated this problem in the context of actomyosin-based cortical flow in C. elegans zygotes, where large-scale flows emerge from the collective action of actomyosin filaments and actin binding proteins (ABPs). Large-scale flow dynamics can be captured by active gel theory by considering force balances and conservation laws in the actomyosin cortex. However, which molecular activities contribute to flow dynamics and large-scale physical properties such as viscosity and active torque is largely unknown. By performing a candidate RNAi screen of ABPs and actomyosin regulators we demonstrate that perturbing distinct molecular processes can lead to similar flow phenotypes. This is indicative for a 'morphogenetic degeneracy' where multiple molecular processes contribute to the same large-scale physical property. We speculate that morphogenetic degeneracies contribute to the robustness of bulk biological matter in development.

Description

Keywords

C. elegans, RNAi screen, actomyosin, cell biology, cortical flow, degeneracy, hydrodynamics, physics of living systems, Actins, Actomyosin, Animals, Caenorhabditis elegans, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Fluorescence, Hydrodynamics, Microfilament Proteins, Models, Biological, Morphogenesis, Myosins, RNA Interference, Rheology

Journal Title

Elife

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2050-084X
2050-084X

Volume Title

7

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (084598/Z/07/Z)
Wellcome Trust (101863/Z/13/Z)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Marie Sk?odowska-Curie actions (641639)