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SUMMARY:Extreme morphogenetic canalization of ascidian embryonic developme
 nt - Dr Patrick Lemaire\, Montpellier Cell Biology Research Center
DTSTART:20190529T120000Z
DTEND:20190529T130000Z
UID:TALK124342@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Kate Criswell
DESCRIPTION:Canalization of developmental processes ensures the reproducib
 ility and robustness of embryogenesis within each species. In its extreme 
 form\, found in ascidians\, early embryonic cell lineages are invariant be
 tween embryos within and between species\, despite rapid genomic divergenc
 e. To resolve this paradox\, we used live light-sheet imaging and develope
 d automated single-cell segmentation and tracking procedures to quantify i
 ndividual embryonic cell behaviors. This quantitative approach revealed th
 at individual cell lineages\, cell geometries\, positions and even contact
 s are highly reproducible between embryos.  This extreme reproducibility m
 ay be linked to the control of fate specification by local cell inductions
 . While in vertebrates the outcome of cell inductions is usually controlle
 d by the concentration of diffusible extracellular ligands\, ascidian cell
  inductions appear to be controlled by the area of contacts between signal
 ling and responding cells\, rather than by differential concentrations of 
 ligands. We propose that the duality between genetic and geometric  contro
 l of inductions contributes to the counterintuitive inverse correlation be
 tween geometric and genetic variability during embryogenesis.
LOCATION:Main Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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