Department of Aquaculture, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung, Taiwan; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London, United Kingdom; The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany; Institute of Bioengineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
Instituto de Investigación en Biomedicina de Buenos Aires (IBioBA) – CONICET – Partner Institute of the Max Planck Society, Polo Científico Tecnológico, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Departamento de Física, FCEyN UBA, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Dortmund, Germany
Integrity of rhythmic spatial gene expression patterns in the vertebrate segmentation clock requires local synchronization between neighboring cells by Delta-Notch signaling and its inhibition causes defective segment boundaries. Whether deformation of the oscillating tissue complements local synchronization during patterning and segment formation is not understood. We combine theory and experiment to investigate this question in the zebrafish segmentation clock. We remove a Notch inhibitor, allowing resynchronization, and analyze embryonic segment recovery. We observe unexpected intermingling of normal and defective segments, and capture this with a new model combining coupled oscillators and tissue mechanics. Intermingled segments are explained in the theory by advection of persistent phase vortices of oscillators. Experimentally observed changes in recovery patterns are predicted in the theory by temporal changes in tissue length and cell advection pattern. Thus, segmental pattern recovery occurs at two length and time scales: rapid local synchronization between neighboring cells, and the slower transport of the resulting patterns across the tissue through morphogenesis.
