In order to describe two-dimensionally packed cells in epithelial tissues both mathematically and physically, there have been developed several sorts of geometrical models, such as the vertex model, the finite element model, the cell-centered model, and the cellular Potts model. So far, in any case, pressures have not neatly been dealt with and the curvatures of the cell boundaries have been ev...

The life cycle of bacterial cells consists of repeated elongation, septum formation, and division. Before septum formation, a division ring called the Z-ring, which is made of a filamentous tubulin analog, FtsZ, is seen at the mid cell. Together with several other proteins, FtsZ is essential for cell division. Visualization of strains with GFP-labeled FtsZ shows that the Z-ring contracts before...

slug (snai2), a regulator of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (emt), is a zinc finger transcription factor involved in neurulation. intriguingly, snai2 gene expression has been linked to the aggressiveness of neuroblastoma, melanoma and lung, colon, ovarian and breast carcinoma. of note, many metastatic cancers recapitulate emt to enhance cell motility and invasion. moreover, metastasis is ...

How epithelial cell behaviors are coordinately regulated to sculpt tissue architecture is a fundamental question in biology. Kupffer's vesicle (KV), a transient organ with a fluid-filled lumen, provides a simple system to investigate the interplay between intrinsic cellular mechanisms and external forces during epithelial morphogenesis. Using 3-dimensional (3D) analyses of single cells we ident...

Point distribution models have been successful in describing the shape constraints on two dimensional objects for shape description and image search. It is often the case that a class of objects to be modelled contains certain features which may be wholly present or absent in different instances. Moustaches on faces are a common example. Here we describe a method of coding the presence or absen...

Cell shape is determined by a balance of intrinsic properties of the cell as well as its mechanochemical environment. Inhomogeneous shape changes underlie many morphogenetic events and involve spatial gradients in active cellular forces induced by complex chemical signaling. Here, we introduce a mechanochemical model based on the notion that cell shape changes may be induced by external diffusi...