Detecting long-range interactions between migrating cells.

ABSTRACT: Chemotaxis enables cells to systematically approach distant targets that emit a diffusible guiding substance. However, the visual observation of an encounter between a cell and a target does not necessarily indicate the presence of a chemotactic approach mechanism, as even a blindly migrating cell can come across a target by chance. To distinguish between the chemotactic approach and blind migration, we present an objective method that is based on the analysis of time-lapse recorded cell migration trajectories: For each movement step of a cell relative to the position of a potential target, we compute a p value that quantifies the likelihood of the movement direction under the null-hypothesis of blind migration. The resulting distribution of p values, pooled over all recorded cell trajecto

SUBMITTER: Metzner C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8298713 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature