scholarly journals A hydraulic instability drives the cell death decision in the nematode germline

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. T. Chartier ◽  
A. Mukherjee ◽  
J. Pfanzelter ◽  
S. Fürthauer ◽  
B. T. Larson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cell Death ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
Homogeneous Population ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
The Common ◽  
Fate Decision ◽  
Cell Volumes

AbstractOocytes are large and resourceful. During oogenesis some germ cells grow, typically at the expense of others that undergo apoptosis. How germ cells are selected to live or die out of a homogeneous population remains unclear. Here we show that this cell fate decision in C. elegans is mechanical and related to tissue hydraulics. Germ cells become inflated when the pressure inside them is lower than in the common cytoplasmic pool. This condition triggers a hydraulic instability which amplifies volume differences and causes some germ cells to grow and others to shrink. Shrinking germ cells are extruded and die, as we demonstrate by reducing germ cell volumes via thermoviscous pumping. Together, this reveals a robust mechanism of mechanochemical cell fate decision making in the germline.

scholarly journals A hydraulic instability drives the cell death decision in the nematode germline

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas T. Chartier ◽  
Arghyadip Mukherjee ◽  
Julia Pfanzelter ◽  
Sebastian Fürthauer ◽  
Ben T. Larson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Germ Cell ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Fate Decision ◽  
Cell Volumes ◽  
Material Fluxes

AbstractOocytes are large cells that develop into an embryo upon fertilization1. As interconnected germ cells mature into oocytes, some of them grow—typically at the expense of others that undergo cell death2–4. We present evidence that in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, this cell-fate decision is mechanical and related to tissue hydraulics. An analysis of germ cell volumes and material fluxes identifies a hydraulic instability that amplifies volume differences and causes some germ cells to grow and others to shrink, a phenomenon that is related to the two-balloon instability5. Shrinking germ cells are extruded and they die, as we demonstrate by artificially reducing germ cell volumes via thermoviscous pumping6. Our work reveals a hydraulic symmetry-breaking transition central to the decision between life and death in the nematode germline.

scholarly journals Genetic control of programmed cell death in the Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite germline

Development ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 126 (5) ◽  
pp. 1011-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.L. Gumienny ◽  
E. Lambie ◽  
E. Hartwieg ◽  
H.R. Horvitz ◽  
M.O. Hengartner
Keyword(s):  
Cell Death ◽  
Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽  
Germ Cell ◽  
Somatic Cell ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Germ Cells ◽  
Mapk Pathway ◽  
Apoptotic Cell ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Pathway Activation

Development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is highly reproducible and the fate of every somatic cell has been reported. We describe here a previously uncharacterized cell fate in C. elegans: we show that germ cells, which in hermaphrodites can differentiate into sperm and oocytes, also undergo apoptotic cell death. In adult hermaphrodites, over 300 germ cells die, using the same apoptotic execution machinery (ced-3, ced-4 and ced-9) as the previously described 131 somatic cell deaths. However, this machinery is activated by a distinct pathway, as loss of egl-1 function, which inhibits somatic cell death, does not affect germ cell apoptosis. Germ cell death requires ras/MAPK pathway activation and is used to maintain germline homeostasis. We suggest that apoptosis eliminates excess germ cells that acted as nurse cells to provide cytoplasmic components to maturing oocytes.

scholarly journals HLH-2/E2A Expression Links Stochastic and Deterministic Elements of a Cell Fate Decision during C. elegans Gonadogenesis

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (18) ◽  
pp. 3094-3100.e4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle A. Attner ◽  
Wolfgang Keil ◽  
Justin M. Benavidez ◽  
Iva Greenwald
Keyword(s):  
Cell Fate ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Fate Decision

Cell autonomy of lin-12 function in a cell fate decision in C. elegans

Cell ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1237-1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Seydoux ◽  
Iva Greenwald
Keyword(s):  
Cell Fate ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Cell Autonomy ◽  
Fate Decision

scholarly journals Wnt/B-catenin signalling facilitates cell fate decision making in the early mouse embryo

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. S159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Corujo-Simon ◽  
Joaquin Lilao-Garzon ◽  
Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Mouse Embryo ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
Early Mouse Embryo ◽  
Fate Decision ◽  
Early Mouse

scholarly journals Uncertainty in cell fate decision making: Lessons from potential landscapes of bifurcation systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anissa Guillemin ◽  
Elisabeth Roesch ◽  
Michael P.H. Stumpf
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cell Fate ◽  
Qualitative Change ◽  
Pictorial Representation ◽  
Cell Fate Decision ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Molecular Noise ◽  
Intrinsic Complexity ◽  
Fate Decision ◽  
The Stability

AbstractCell fate decision making is known to be a complex process and is still far from being understood. The intrinsic complexity, but also features such as molecular noise represent challenges for modelling these systems. Waddington’s epigenetic landscape has become the overriding metaphor for developmental processes: it both serves as pictorial representation, and can be related to mathematical models. In this work we investigate how the landscape is affected by noise in the underlying system. Specifically, we focus on those systems where minor changes in the parameters cause major changes in the stability properties of the system, especially bifurcations. We analyse and quantify the changes in the landscape’s shape as the effects of noise increase. We find ample evidence for intricate interplay between noise and dynamics which can lead to qualitative change in a system’s dynamics and hence the corresponding landscape. In particular, we find that the effects can be most pronounced in the vicinity of the bifurcation point of the underlying deterministic dynamical systems, which would correspond to the cell fate decision event in cellular differentiation processes.

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