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“Neighbourhood watch” model: embryonic epiblast cells assess positional information in relation to their neighbours

View ORCID ProfileHyung Chul Lee, View ORCID ProfileCato Hastings, View ORCID ProfileNidia M.M. Oliveira, View ORCID ProfileRubén Pérez-Carrasco, View ORCID ProfileKaren M. Page, Lewis Wolpert, View ORCID ProfileClaudio D. Stern
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.22.440894
Hyung Chul Lee
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Cato Hastings
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Nidia M.M. Oliveira
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Rubén Pérez-Carrasco
2Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, U.K.
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Karen M. Page
3Department of Mathematics, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Lewis Wolpert
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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Claudio D. Stern
1Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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  • For correspondence: c.stern@ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

In many developing and regenerating systems, tissue pattern is established through gradients of informative morphogens, but we know little about how cells interpret these. Using experimental manipulation of early chick embryos including misexpression of an inducer (VG1 or ACTIVIN) and an inhibitor (BMP4), we test two alternative models for their ability to explain how the site of primitive streak formation is positioned relative to the rest of the embryo. In one model, cells read morphogen concentrations cell-autonomously. In the other, cells sense changes in morphogen status relative to their neighbourhood. We find that only the latter model can account for the experimental results, including some counter-intuitive predictions. This mechanism (which we name “neighbourhood watch” model) illuminates the classic “French Flag Problem” and how positional information is interpreted by a sheet of cells in a large developing system.

Summary statement In a large developing system, the chick embryo before gastrulation, cells interpret gradients of positional signals relative to their neighbours to position the primitive streak, establishing bilateral symmetry.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵‡ Deceased 28 Jan 2021

  • Text and figures, supplementary material.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 16, 2022.
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“Neighbourhood watch” model: embryonic epiblast cells assess positional information in relation to their neighbours
Hyung Chul Lee, Cato Hastings, Nidia M.M. Oliveira, Rubén Pérez-Carrasco, Karen M. Page, Lewis Wolpert, Claudio D. Stern
bioRxiv 2021.04.22.440894; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.22.440894
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“Neighbourhood watch” model: embryonic epiblast cells assess positional information in relation to their neighbours
Hyung Chul Lee, Cato Hastings, Nidia M.M. Oliveira, Rubén Pérez-Carrasco, Karen M. Page, Lewis Wolpert, Claudio D. Stern
bioRxiv 2021.04.22.440894; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.22.440894

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