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SUMMARY:Time and time again - The regulation of segmentation clock period 
 in zebrafish - Leah Herrgen\, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biolo
 gy and Genetics\, Dresden
DTSTART:20090210T110000Z
DTEND:20090210T114500Z
UID:TALK16902@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Gregory Jefferis
DESCRIPTION:Coupled biological oscillators can synchronise to form a clock
 \, collectively ticking with the same period. How this collective period i
 s regulated is a key question in understanding biological clocks. This reg
 ulation was explored in the segmentation clock\, a population of coupled c
 ellular oscillators in the vertebrate embryo that sets the rhythm of somit
 ogenesis\, the morphological segmentation of the body axis. The oscillatin
 g cells of the segmentation clock possess autonomous and noisy periods\, w
 hich are synchronised by Delta- Notch intercellular coupling. Disruption o
 f Delta-Notch signalling increases the period of zebrafish somitogenesis. 
 Communication between oscillating cells may therefore be a key factor regu
 lating segmentation clock period. Using a theory based on coupled phase os
 cillators\, we estimate the cell-autonomous period and the delay in coupli
 ng from the experimental data. We propose that collective control over per
 iod may be a general feature of biological clocks.
LOCATION:MRC LMB: Cell Biology Seminar Room (Level 4\, Room 4014)
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