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Updated: May 30, 2026

Reconstitution of Cell-cycle Oscillations in Microemulsions of Cell-free Xenopus Egg Extracts
Published on: September 27, 2018
Does the potential for chaos constrain the embryonic cell-cycle oscillator?
R Scott McIsaac1, Kerwyn Casey Huang, Anirvan Sengupta
1Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America.
Embryos use a rapid, fertilization-initiated calcium wave to synchronize cell divisions. A slow calcium wave leads to chaotic, unsynchronized cell cycles, highlighting a key developmental mechanism.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Cell cycle regulation
- Calcium signaling
Background:
- Core components of the embryonic cell-cycle network are known.
- Mechanisms for robust, synchronous cell divisions post-fertilization are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how embryos achieve synchronized cell divisions.
- To investigate the role of the fertilization-initiated calcium wave in cell cycle synchronization.
Main Methods:
- Extended a previously developed Xenopus laevis embryonic cell-cycle model.
- Incorporated spatial dimensions into the cell-cycle model.
- Simulated the effects of varying calcium wave speeds on cell division synchrony.
Main Results:
- A fast calcium wave simulation resulted in synchronized cell cycles.
- A slow calcium wave simulation led to spatio-temporal chaos.
- Chaos manifested as an unpredictable patchwork of cell divisions across the embryo.
Conclusions:
- The rapid, fertilization-initiated calcium wave is crucial for synchronizing embryonic cell divisions.
- Calcium wave speed acts as a critical determinant of cell cycle synchrony versus chaos.
- This highlights a novel design principle for achieving robust embryonic development.
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Published on: June 6, 2021
07:59Alignment of Synchronized Time-Series Data Using the Characterizing Loss of Cell Cycle Synchrony Model for Cross-Experiment Comparisons
Published on: June 9, 2023
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