scholarly journals Quantifying Waddington landscapes and paths of non-adiabatic cell fate decisions for differentiation, reprogramming and transdifferentiation

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (89) ◽  
pp. 20130787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunhe Li ◽  
Jin Wang

Cellular differentiation, reprogramming and transdifferentiation are determined by underlying gene regulatory networks. Non-adiabatic regulation via slow binding/unbinding to the gene can be important in these cell fate decision-making processes. Based on a stem cell core gene network, we uncovered the stem cell developmental landscape. As the binding/unbinding speed decreases, the landscape topography changes from bistable attractors of stem and differentiated states to more attractors of stem and other different cell states as well as substates. Non-adiabaticity leads to more differentiated cell types and provides a natural explanation for the heterogeneity observed in the experiments. We quantified Waddington landscapes with two possible cell fate decision mechanisms by changing the regulation strength or regulation timescale (non-adiabaticity). Transition rates correlate with landscape topography through barrier heights between different states and quantitatively determine global stability. We found the optimal speeds of these cell fate decision-making processes. We quantified biological paths and predict that differentiation and reprogramming go through an intermediate state (IM1), whereas transdifferentiation goes through another intermediate state (IM2). Some predictions are confirmed by recent experimental studies.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiakun Chu ◽  
Jin Wang

Cell state transitions or cell fate decision making processes, such as cell development and cell pathological transformation, are believed to be determined by the regulatory network of genes, which intimately depend on the structures of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. The high temporal resolution picture of how chromosome reorganizes its 3D structure during the cell state transitions is the key to understanding the mechanisms of these fundamental cellular processes. However, this picture is still challenging to acquire at present. Here, we studied the chromosome structural dynamics during the cell state transitions among the pluripotent embryonic stem cell (ESC), the terminally differentiated normal cell and the cancer cell using landscape-switching model implemented in the molecular dynamics simulation. We considered up to 6 transitions, including differentiation, reprogramming, cancer formation and reversion. We found that the pathways can merge at certain stages during the transitions for the two processes having the same destination as the ESC or the normal cell. Before reaching the merging point, the two pathways are cell-type-specific. The chromosomes at the merging points show high structural similarity to the ones at the final cell states in terms of the contact maps, TADs and compartments. The post-merging processes correspond to the adaption of the chromosome global shape geometry through the chromosome compaction without significantly disrupting the contact formation. On the other hand, our detailed analysis showed no merging point for the two cancer formation processes initialized from the ESC and the normal cell, implying that cancer progression is a complex process and may be associated with multiple pathways. Our results draw a complete molecular picture of cell development and cancer at the dynamical chromosome structural level, and help our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cell fate decision making processes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 2702-2711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Spector ◽  
Warren L. Grayson

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Liebisch ◽  
Armin Drusko ◽  
Biena Mathew ◽  
Ernst H. K. Stelzer ◽  
Sabine C. Fischer ◽  
...  

AbstractDuring the mammalian preimplantation phase, cells undergo two subsequent cell fate decisions. During the first decision, the trophectoderm and the inner cell mass are formed. Subsequently, the inner cell mass segregates into the epiblast and the primitive endoderm. Inner cell mass organoids represent an experimental model system, mimicking the second cell fate decision. It has been shown that cells of the same fate tend to cluster stronger than expected for random cell fate decisions. Three major processes are hypothesised to contribute to the cell fate arrangements: (1) chemical signalling; (2) cell sorting; and (3) cell proliferation. In order to quantify the influence of cell proliferation on the observed cell lineage type clustering, we developed an agent-based model accounting for mechanical cell–cell interaction, i.e. adhesion and repulsion, cell division, stochastic cell fate decision and cell fate heredity. The model supports the hypothesis that initial cell fate acquisition is a stochastically driven process, taking place in the early development of inner cell mass organoids. Further, we show that the observed neighbourhood structures can emerge solely due to cell fate heredity during cell division.


Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 366 (6461) ◽  
pp. 116-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan D. Lord ◽  
Thomas M. Norman ◽  
Ruoshi Yuan ◽  
Somenath Bakshi ◽  
Richard Losick ◽  
...  

Cell fate decision circuits must be variable enough for genetically identical cells to adopt a multitude of fates, yet ensure that these states are distinct, stably maintained, and coordinated with neighboring cells. A long-standing view is that this is achieved by regulatory networks involving self-stabilizing feedback loops that convert small differences into long-lived cell types. We combined regulatory mutants and in vivo reconstitution with theory for stochastic processes to show that the marquee features of a cell fate switch in Bacillus subtilis—discrete states, multigenerational inheritance, and timing of commitments—can instead be explained by simple stochastic competition between two constitutively produced proteins that form an inactive complex. Such antagonistic interactions are commonplace in cells and could provide powerful mechanisms for cell fate determination more broadly.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yungang Xu ◽  
Weiling Zhao ◽  
Scott D. Olson ◽  
Karthik S. Prabhakara ◽  
Xiaobo Zhou

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