Canalization of C. elegans Vulva Induction against Anatomical Variability.

ABSTRACT: It is a fundamental open question as to how embryos develop into complex adult organisms with astounding reproducibility, particularly because cells are inherently variable on the molecular level. During C. elegans vulva induction, the anchor cell induces cell fate in the vulva precursor cells in a distance-dependent manner. Surprisingly, we found that initial anchor cell position was highly variable and caused variability in cell fate induction. However, we observed that vulva induction was "canalized," i.e., the variability in anchor cell position and cell fate was progressively reduced, resulting in an invariant spatial pattern of cell fates at the end of induction. To understand the mechanism of canalization, we quantified induction dynamics as a function of anchor cell position during

SUBMITTER: Huelsz-Prince G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5330807 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature