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Institute for the Physics of Living Systems

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IPLS Seminar- Dr Jose Negrete

18 November 2015, 11:00 am–12:00 pm

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MRC Building, LMCB Seminar Room (2nd Floor)

Title: Control of single cell somitogenesis

Abstract: Embryo somitogenesis is preceded by the spatiotemporal evolution of a kinematic wave of cyclic genes such as her1. It is conjectured that this wave is at the same time modulated by the presence signaling gradients. In this work we have developed a theoretical formalism for analyzing the dynamics of her1 at the single cell level. Remarkably these cells show an oscillatory transient when they are extracted from the embryo and positioned far from their neighbors, suggesting that autonomous dynamics play an important role in somitogenesis. We have been able to identify the key parameters that are modulated during the evolution of her1 and from these we developed predictions that can be tested in experiment. In particular the parameters of the reaction rates of her1 are non-stationary suggesting that these are controlled by the signaling system.