A scheme for 3-dimensional morphological reconstruction and force inference in the early C. elegans embryo

Area of Science:

• Developmental Biology
• Biophysics
• Cellular Mechanics

Background:

• Understanding early embryonic development requires insights into cellular morphology and forces.
• Quantifying mechanical forces within developing embryos is crucial for deciphering developmental processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a computational scheme for reconstructing cellular morphology.
• To infer mechanical forces acting on cell membranes during early embryonic development in C. elegans.

Main Methods:

• Developed a morphological reconstruction scheme transforming fluorescence images into smoothed surface patches.
• Benchmarked the scheme for accurate estimation of membrane curvatures and inter-membrane angles.
• Inferred mechanical forces assuming isotropic and homogeneous membrane tensions.

Main Results:

• The scheme accurately reconstructs cellular morphology from in vivo images.
• Inferred forces show minor deviations (7% at edges, 10% across membranes) from theoretical balances.
• Sensitivity analysis confirmed the stability and reproducibility of the image analysis and force inference pipelines.

Conclusions:

• The developed scheme provides a robust method for analyzing cellular morphology and inferring forces in early C. elegans embryos.
• The findings offer new quantitative insights into the mechanical forces governing embryonic development.