Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition proceeds through directional destabilization of multidimensional attractor.

ABSTRACT: How a cell changes from one stable phenotype to another one is a fundamental problem in developmental and cell biology. Mathematically, a stable phenotype corresponds to a stable attractor in a generally multi-dimensional state space, which needs to be destabilized so the cell relaxes to a new attractor. Two basic mechanisms for destabilizing a stable fixed point, pitchfork and saddle-node bifurcations, have been extensively studied theoretically; however, direct experimental investigation at the single-cell level remains scarce. Here, we performed live cell imaging studies and analyses in the framework of dynamical systems theories on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). While some mechanistic details remain controversial, EMT is a cell phenotypic transition (CPT) process central t

SUBMITTER: Wang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8920502 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature