Merchant Brian, Edelstein-Keshet Leah, Feng James J
Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2.
Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3.
Dev Biol. 2018 Dec 1;444 Suppl 1:S262-S273. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2018.01.013. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
We propose a model to explain the spontaneous collective migration of neural crest cells in the absence of an external gradient of chemoattractants. The model is based on the dynamical interaction between Rac1 and RhoA that is known to regulate the polarization, contact inhibition and co-attraction of neural crest cells. Coupling the reaction-diffusion equations for active and inactive Rac1 and RhoA on the cell membrane with a mechanical model for the overdamped motion of membrane vertices, we show that co-attraction and contact inhibition cooperate to produce persistence of polarity in a cluster of neural crest cells by suppressing the random onset of Rac1 hotspots that may mature into new protrusion fronts. This produces persistent directional migration of cell clusters in corridors. Our model confirms a prior hypothesis that co-attraction and contact inhibition are key to spontaneous collective migration, and provides an explanation of their cooperative working mechanism in terms of Rho GTPase signaling. The model shows that the spontaneous migration is more robust for larger clusters, and is most efficient in a corridor of optimal confinement.
我们提出了一个模型,用于解释在没有趋化因子外部梯度的情况下神经嵴细胞的自发集体迁移。该模型基于Rac1和RhoA之间的动态相互作用,已知这种相互作用可调节神经嵴细胞的极化、接触抑制和共同吸引。将细胞膜上活性和非活性Rac1及RhoA的反应扩散方程与膜顶点过阻尼运动的力学模型相结合,我们表明共同吸引和接触抑制通过抑制可能成熟为新突起前沿的Rac1热点的随机出现,共同作用使神经嵴细胞簇中的极性得以持续。这导致细胞簇在通道中持续定向迁移。我们的模型证实了之前的一个假设,即共同吸引和接触抑制是自发集体迁移的关键,并从Rho GTPase信号传导方面解释了它们的协同工作机制。该模型表明,自发迁移对于更大的细胞簇更稳健,并且在最佳限制的通道中效率最高。