Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces
The cell cortex is an active viscoelastic self-deforming sheet at the periphery of animal cells. It constricts animal cells during cell division. For some egg cells, the actomyosin cortex was shown to exhibit counter-rotating chiral flows along the axis of division. Such chiral surface flows were sh...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | New Journal of Physics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/acd079 |
| _version_ | 1797748701360291840 |
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| author | E M de Kinkelder E Fischer-Friedrich S Aland |
| author_facet | E M de Kinkelder E Fischer-Friedrich S Aland |
| author_sort | E M de Kinkelder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The cell cortex is an active viscoelastic self-deforming sheet at the periphery of animal cells. It constricts animal cells during cell division. For some egg cells, the actomyosin cortex was shown to exhibit counter-rotating chiral flows along the axis of division. Such chiral surface flows were shown to contribute to spatial rearrangements and left-right symmetry breaking in developing organisms. In spite of this prospective biological importance, the effect of chiral forces on the flows and emergent shape dynamics of a deformable surface are completely unknown. To shed a first light on that matter, we present here a numerical study of an axisymmetric viscoelastic surface embedded in a viscous fluid. We impose a generic counter-rotating force field on this surface and study the resulting chiral flow field and shape dynamics for various surface mechanical parameters. Notably, we find that the building of a neck, as is observed during cell division, occurs if the surface contains a strong shear elastic component. Furthermore, we find that a large areal relaxation time results in flows towards the equator of the surface. These flows assist the transport of a surface concentration during the formation of a contractile ring. Accordingly, we show that chiral forces by themselves can drive pattern formation and stabilise contractile rings at the equator. These results provide first mechanistic evidence that chiral flows can play a significant role to orchestrate cell division. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-85551ff0bf0b46e9ba23fd79160ba8b7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1367-2630 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:09:37Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | New Journal of Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-85551ff0bf0b46e9ba23fd79160ba8b72023-08-09T14:12:56ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302023-01-0125505303410.1088/1367-2630/acd079Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfacesE M de Kinkelder0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2694-462XE Fischer-Friedrich1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2433-916XS Aland2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5258-0006Institute of Numerical Analysis and Optimization, Technische Universtität Bergakademie Freiberg , Freiberg, Germany; Faculty of Informatics/Mathematics, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft , Dresden, GermanyCluster of Excellence Physics of Life, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden, Germany; Biotechnology Center, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden, Germany; Faculty of Physics, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden, GermanyInstitute of Numerical Analysis and Optimization, Technische Universtität Bergakademie Freiberg , Freiberg, Germany; Faculty of Informatics/Mathematics, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft , Dresden, GermanyThe cell cortex is an active viscoelastic self-deforming sheet at the periphery of animal cells. It constricts animal cells during cell division. For some egg cells, the actomyosin cortex was shown to exhibit counter-rotating chiral flows along the axis of division. Such chiral surface flows were shown to contribute to spatial rearrangements and left-right symmetry breaking in developing organisms. In spite of this prospective biological importance, the effect of chiral forces on the flows and emergent shape dynamics of a deformable surface are completely unknown. To shed a first light on that matter, we present here a numerical study of an axisymmetric viscoelastic surface embedded in a viscous fluid. We impose a generic counter-rotating force field on this surface and study the resulting chiral flow field and shape dynamics for various surface mechanical parameters. Notably, we find that the building of a neck, as is observed during cell division, occurs if the surface contains a strong shear elastic component. Furthermore, we find that a large areal relaxation time results in flows towards the equator of the surface. These flows assist the transport of a surface concentration during the formation of a contractile ring. Accordingly, we show that chiral forces by themselves can drive pattern formation and stabilise contractile rings at the equator. These results provide first mechanistic evidence that chiral flows can play a significant role to orchestrate cell division.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/acd079viscoelastic surface dynamicschiral flowscell cortexnumerical simulation |
| spellingShingle | E M de Kinkelder E Fischer-Friedrich S Aland Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces New Journal of Physics viscoelastic surface dynamics chiral flows cell cortex numerical simulation |
| title | Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| title_full | Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| title_fullStr | Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| title_short | Chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| title_sort | chiral flows can induce neck formation in viscoelastic surfaces |
| topic | viscoelastic surface dynamics chiral flows cell cortex numerical simulation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/acd079 |
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