Speaker
Description
Tissue morphogenesis is the result of a complex interplay of mechanics, geometry and chemical signals. Yet, how heterogeneous and anisotropic tissue structure affects the spread and resulting pattern of signalling molecules remains poorly understood. Here, by homogenising a cell-based model we link cellular shape alignment to locally anisotropic effective diffusion. We then investigate the feedback between cellular nematic order and morphogen pattern formation in a 2D continuum model, where a nematic order parameter is coupled to a reaction-diffusion system with one and with two morphogens. Simulations show that topological defects in the nematic can strongly reshape the morphogen field in their vicinity, leading to novel nemato-chemical patterns. Our results propose the interplay between morphogen transport, nematic order, and defects as way of guiding cell fate patterning.
