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Related Concept Videos

Gastrulation01:56

Gastrulation

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Gastrulation establishes the three primary tissues of an embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. This developmental process relies on a series of intricate cellular movements, which in humans transforms a flat, “bilaminar disc” composed of two cell sheets into a three-tiered structure. In the resulting embryo, the endoderm serves as the bottom layer, and stacked directly above it is the intermediate mesoderm, and then the uppermost ectoderm. Respectively, these tissue strata...
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Neurulation01:30

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Neurulation is the embryological process which forms the precursors of the central nervous system and occurs after gastrulation has established the three primary cell layers of the embryo: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. In humans, the majority of this system is formed via primary neurulation, in which the central portion of the ectoderm—originally appearing as a flat sheet of cells—folds upwards and inwards, sealing off to form a hollow neural tube. As development proceeds, the...
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Tension Response at Adherens Junctions01:26

Tension Response at Adherens Junctions

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The adherens junctions that anchor cells together are multi-protein complexes that dynamically adapt to mechanical stimuli such as tensile forces and shear stress. Mechanosensory proteins in these junctions can sense such mechanical stimuli and undergo a shift in their conformation, resulting in an altered function — a process called mechanotransduction.
α-Catenin as a Mechanosensory Protein
The α-catenin of adherens junctions is an allosteric protein with three VH (vinculin...
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Cell Motility through Blebbing01:16

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Blebs are a type of membrane protrusion formed by the internal hydrostatic pressure of the cytoplasm. Blebs are observed in several cell types, including fibroblasts, immune cells, and single-celled organisms like the amoeba. The primary function of blebs is cell locomotion and apoptosis, but they are also found during necrosis and cell division. The life cycle of a bleb comprises an initiation phase followed by the expansion and retraction phases.
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Cleavage and Blastulation01:33

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After a large-single-celled zygote is produced via fertilization, the process of cleavage occurs while zygotes travel through the uterine tube. Cleavage is a mitotic cell division that does not result in growth. With each round of successive cell division, daughter cells get increasingly smaller.
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Mechanism of Lamellipodia Formation01:31

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Cells migrating in response to external stimuli form lamellipodia, which are thin membrane protrusions supported by a mesh of linked, branched, or unbranched actin filaments. These actin filaments interact with myosin motor proteins, creating the dynamic actomyosin complex within the cytoskeleton. Contractility, or the ability to generate contractile stress, is inherent to the actomyosin complex. It helps cells detect the stiffness of the surrounding ECM and exert contractile force for...
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Imaging of Cell Shape Alteration and Cell Movement in Drosophila Gastrulation Using DE-cadherin Reporter Transgenic Flies
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Imaging of Cell Shape Alteration and Cell Movement in Drosophila Gastrulation Using DE-cadherin Reporter Transgenic Flies

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Cells under Tension Drive Gastrulation.

Clayton Schwarz1, Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis2

  • 1Developmental Biology Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA; Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.

Developmental Cell
|December 22, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Scientists created gastrulation-like cell patterns in pluripotent stem cells using micropatterns. This shows how mechanical forces influence cell fate during early development, mimicking embryonic environments.

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Probing the Roles of Physical Forces in Early Chick Embryonic Morphogenesis
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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Stem Cell Biology
  • Mechanobiology

Background:

  • Pluripotent stem cells self-organize to form tissues during embryonic development.
  • Cell fate specification is a complex process influenced by various signaling pathways and physical cues.
  • Understanding early developmental processes requires recapitulating embryonic microenvironments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of mechanical forces in directing cell fate during gastrulation-like events.
  • To generate and analyze gastrulation-like foci within engineered stem cell colonies.
  • To explore the involvement of the beta-catenin/Wnt pathway in mechanosensitive cell specification.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing micropatterned colonies of pluripotent stem cells.
  • Culturing stem cells in controlled, embryo-like mechanical environments.
  • Analyzing cell behavior and fate using imaging and molecular techniques.

Main Results:

  • Successfully generated gastrulation-like foci of cells within micropatterned stem cell colonies.
  • Demonstrated that mechanical cues can drive cell fate specification.
  • Identified beta-catenin/Wnt signaling as a key mediator of this mechanosensitive process.

Conclusions:

  • Pluripotent stem cells can be guided to form gastrulation-like structures in vitro.
  • Mechanical forces play a critical role in regulating cell fate during early development.
  • Engineered embryo-like environments provide powerful tools for studying developmental processes.