Spatial heterogeneity accelerates phase-to-trigger wave transitions in frog egg extracts.

ABSTRACT: Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) activity rises and falls throughout the cell cycle: a cell-autonomous process called mitotic oscillations. Mitotic oscillators can synchronize when spatially coupled, facilitating rapid, synchronous divisions in large early embryos of Drosophila (~0.5 mm) and Xenopus (~1.2 mm). Diffusion alone cannot achieve such long-range coordination. Instead, studies proposed mitotic waves-phase and trigger waves-as mechanisms of the coordination. How waves establish over time remains unclear. Using Xenopus laevis egg extracts and a Cdk1 Förster resonance energy transfer sensor, we observe a transition from phase to trigger wave dynamics in initially homogeneous cytosol. Spatial heterogeneity promotes this transition. Adding nuclei accelerates entrainment. The system tr

SUBMITTER: Puls O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11612452 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature