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SUMMARY:To stay or leave? Cell-to-cell heterogeneity and progenitor’s se
 gregation within the bird embryonic tail - Bertrand Benazeraf
DTSTART:20211115T143000Z
DTEND:20211115T153000Z
UID:TALK162517@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:102601
DESCRIPTION:Although cell-to-cell heterogeneity in gene and protein expres
 sion within cell populations has been widely documented\, we know little a
 bout its biological functions. By studying progenitors of the posterior re
 gion of bird embryos\, we found that expression levels of transcription fa
 ctors Sox2 and Bra\, respectively involved in neural tube and mesoderm spe
 cification\, display a high degree of cell-to-cell heterogeneity. By combi
 ning forced expression\, and downregulation approaches with time-lapse ima
 ging we demonstrate that Sox2-to-Bra ratio guides progenitor’s motility 
 and their ability to stay in or exit the progenitor zone to integrate neur
 al or mesodermal tissues. Indeed\, high Bra levels confer high motility th
 at pushes cells to join the paraxial mesoderm\, while high levels of Sox2 
 tend to inhibit cell movement forcing cells to integrate the neural tube. 
 Mathematical modelling captures the importance of cell motility regulation
  in this process and further suggests that randomness in Sox2/Bra cell-to-
 cell distribution favors cell rearrangements and tissue shape conservation
 . 
LOCATION:Online
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