Regensburg 2019 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 24: Cell adhesion and migration, multicellular systems I
BP 24.12: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 4. April 2019, 12:45–13:00, H11
The heat is on: Understanding germ granule segregation in C. elegans — •Anatol W. Fritsch1, Matthäus Mittasch1, Carsten Hoege1, Frank Jülicher2, Moritz Kreysing1, and Anthony Hyman1 — 1MPI-CBG, Dresden, Germany — 2MPI-PKS, Dresden, Germany
During embryonic development sexually reproducing species rely on the segregation of germ granules as one characteristic to specify their germ line. In C. elegans, P granules, a type of germ granule, have been found to behave as liquid-like protein condensates. The underlying biochemical control of the segregation has been described as an mRNA competition mechanism. Furthermore, it has been suggested that this drives segregation via spatially defined changes in the phase separation behavior of the condensates.
Using physical principles underlying phase separation, we are able to rescue the asymmetric localization of P granules in mutants with defective segregation in vivo. We replace wild type biochemical control with a localized temperature gradient that mimics its physical mechanism. Furthermore, with this approach, we are able to invert the endogenous spatial distribution of P granules in zygotes. This enables us to study the dynamics of in vivo phase separation via controlled physical perturbations. In this study we conclude, that P granule segregation is a spatially tuned, diffusive-flux dependent, dissolution-condensation phenomenon.