Cell-to-cell heterogeneity in Sox2 and Bra expression guides progenitor motility and destiny.
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Authors
Romanos, Michèle
Allio, Guillaume
Combres, Léa
Escalas, Nathalie
Soula, Cathy
Médevielle, François
Trescases, Ariane
Publication Date
2021-10-05Journal Title
Elife
ISSN
2050-084X
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Volume
10
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Romanos, M., Allio, G., Roussigné, M., Combres, L., Escalas, N., Soula, C., Médevielle, F., et al. (2021). Cell-to-cell heterogeneity in Sox2 and Bra expression guides progenitor motility and destiny.. Elife, 10 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66588
Abstract
Although cell-to-cell heterogeneity in gene and protein expression within cell populations has been widely documented, we know little about its biological functions. By studying progenitors of the posterior region of bird embryos, we found that expression levels of transcription factors Sox2 and Bra, respectively involved in neural tube (NT) and mesoderm specification, display a high degree of cell-to-cell heterogeneity. By combining forced expression and downregulation approaches with time-lapse imaging, we demonstrate that Sox2-to-Bra ratio guides progenitor's motility and their ability to stay in or exit the progenitor zone to integrate neural or mesodermal tissues. Indeed, high Bra levels confer high motility that pushes cells to join the paraxial mesoderm, while high levels of Sox2 tend to inhibit cell movement forcing cells to integrate the NT. Mathematical modeling captures the importance of cell motility regulation in this process and further suggests that randomness in Sox2/Bra cell-to-cell distribution favors cell rearrangements and tissue shape conservation.
Keywords
Morphogenesis, Cell motility, Heterogeneity, developmental biology, Mathematical Modeling, Neuromesodermal Progenitors, Bird Embryos
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (109408/Z/15/Z)
Identifiers
PMC8492064, 34607629
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66588
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/330394
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