Fgf8 Dynamics and Critical Slowing Down May Account for the Temperature Independence of Somitogenesis

Overview

Journal Commun Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Feb 8

PMID 35132142

Authors

Weiting Zhang

Pierluigi Scerbo

Marine Delagrange

Virginie Candat

Vanessa Mayr

Sophie Vriz

Martin Distel

Bertrand Ducos

David Bensimon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Somitogenesis, the segmentation of the antero-posterior axis in vertebrates, is thought to result from the interactions between a genetic oscillator and a posterior-moving determination wavefront. The segment (somite) size is set by the product of the oscillator period and the velocity of the determination wavefront. Surprisingly, while the segmentation period can vary by a factor three between 20 °C and 32 °C, the somite size is constant. How this temperature independence is achieved is a mystery that we address in this study. Using RT-qPCR we show that the endogenous fgf8 mRNA concentration decreases during somitogenesis and correlates with the exponent of the shrinking pre-somitic mesoderm (PSM) size. As the temperature decreases, the dynamics of fgf8 and many other gene transcripts, as well as the segmentation frequency and the PSM shortening and tail growth rates slows down as T-T (with T = 14.4 °C). This behavior characteristic of a system near a critical point may account for the temperature independence of somitogenesis in zebrafish.

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