Modelling the Establishment of PAR Protein Polarity in the One-Cell C. elegans Embryo. Export

@article{citeulike:3337824, abstract = {At the one-cell stage, the C. elegans embryo becomes polarized along the anterior-posterior axis. The PAR proteins form complementary anterior and posterior domains in a dynamic process driven by cytoskeletal rearrangement. Initially, the PAR proteins are uniformly distributed throughout the embryo. Following a cue from fertilization, cortical actomyosin contracts towards the anterior pole. PAR-3/PAR-6/PKC-3 (the anterior PAR proteins) become restricted to the anterior cortex. PAR-1 and PAR-2 (the posterior PAR proteins) become enriched in the posterior cortical region. We present a mathematical model of this polarity establishment process, in which we take a novel approach to combine reaction-diffusion dynamics of the PAR proteins coupled to a simple model of actomyosin contraction. We show that known interactions between the PAR proteins are sufficient to explain many aspects of the observed cortical PAR dynamics in both wild-type and mutant embryos. However, cytoplasmic PAR protein polarity, which is vital for generating daughter cells with distinct molecular components, cannot be properly explained within such a framework. We therefore consider additional mechanisms that can reproduce the proper cytoplasmic polarity. In particular we predict that cytoskeletal asymmetry in the cytoplasm, in addition to the cortical actomyosin asymmetry, is a critical determinant of PAR protein localization.}, author = {Tostevin, F. and Howard, M.}, citeulike-article-id = {3337824}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.108.136416}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.biophysj.org/cgi/content/abstract/95/10/4512}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18621845}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=18621845}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://www.wormbase.org/db/misc/paper?name=WBPaper00032016}, doi = {10.1529/biophysj.108.136416}, journal = {Biophys J}, keywords = {c\_elegans, modeling}, posted-at = {2008-10-30 12:08:51}, priority = {2}, title = {Modelling the Establishment of PAR Protein Polarity in the One-Cell C. elegans Embryo.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.108.136416}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3337824 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3337824 N2 - At the one-cell stage, the C. elegans embryo becomes polarized along the anterior-posterior axis. The PAR proteins form complementary anterior and posterior domains in a dynamic process driven by cytoskeletal rearrangement. Initially, the PAR proteins are uniformly distributed throughout the embryo. Following a cue from fertilization, cortical actomyosin contracts towards the anterior pole. PAR-3/PAR-6/PKC-3 (the anterior PAR proteins) become restricted to the anterior cortex. PAR-1 and PAR-2 (the posterior PAR proteins) become enriched in the posterior cortical region. We present a mathematical model of this polarity establishment process, in which we take a novel approach to combine reaction-diffusion dynamics of the PAR proteins coupled to a simple model of actomyosin contraction. We show that known interactions between the PAR proteins are sufficient to explain many aspects of the observed cortical PAR dynamics in both wild-type and mutant embryos. However, cytoplasmic PAR protein polarity, which is vital for generating daughter cells with distinct molecular components, cannot be properly explained within such a framework. We therefore consider additional mechanisms that can reproduce the proper cytoplasmic polarity. In particular we predict that cytoskeletal asymmetry in the cytoplasm, in addition to the cortical actomyosin asymmetry, is a critical determinant of PAR protein localization. JF - Biophys J TI - Modelling the Establishment of PAR Protein Polarity in the One-Cell C. elegans Embryo. KW - c_elegans KW - modeling AU - Tostevin, F AU - Howard, M PY - 2008/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1529/biophysj.108.136416 ER -