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Modeling protein dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos reveals that the PLK-1 gradient relies on weakly coupled reaction–diffusion mechanisms
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Barbieri, Sofia, Nurni Ravi, Aparna, Griffin, Erik E. and Gotta, Monica (2022) Modeling protein dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans embryos reveals that the PLK-1 gradient relies on weakly coupled reaction–diffusion mechanisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (11). e2114205119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2114205119 ISSN 0027-8424.
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Official URL: http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114205119
Abstract
Protein gradients have fundamental roles in cell and developmental biology. In the one-cell Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, the mitotic Polo-Like Kinase 1 (PLK-1) forms an anterior-rich cytoplasmic gradient, which is crucial for asymmetric cell division and embryonic development. The PLK-1 gradient depends on the RNA-binding Muscle-EXcess-5 protein (MEX-5), whose slow-diffusing complexes accumulate in the anterior via a reaction–diffusion mechanism. Here, we combine experiments and a computational approach to investigate the dynamics of PLK-1 gradient formation. We find that the gradient of PLK-1 initiates later, is less steep, and forms with slower dynamics than does the MEX-5 gradient. The data show that PLK-1 diffuses faster than MEX-5 in both anterior and posterior cytoplasmic regions. Our simulations suggest that binding to slow-diffusing MEX-5 is required for PLK-1 gradient formation, but that a significant fraction of unbound PLK-1 is necessary to justify the different gradient dynamics. We provide a computational tool able to predict gradient establishment prior to cell division and show that a two-component, bound and unbound, model of PLK-1 dynamics recapitulates the experimental observations.
Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology Q Science > QH Natural history > QH426 Genetics Q Science > QP Physiology |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- ) | |||||||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Developmental biology, Morphogenesis -- Mathematical models, Caenorhabditis elegans, Protein kinases -- Inhibitors, Caenorhabditis elegans -- Molecular genetics, Proteins -- Analysis | |||||||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | |||||||||||||||
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences | |||||||||||||||
ISSN: | 0027-8424 | |||||||||||||||
Official Date: | March 2022 | |||||||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 119 | |||||||||||||||
Number: | 11 | |||||||||||||||
Article Number: | e2114205119 | |||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2114205119 | |||||||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 16 January 2024 | |||||||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 17 January 2024 | |||||||||||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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