(16g) Cell Biomechanics Effects in Limb Development

Half century ago, Alan Turing proposed a mathematical theory about morphogenesis based on the formation of spatial patterns. Yet, its relevance in the field of Developmental Biology remained elusive for many years. Remarkably, recently it has been shown that Turing’s mechanism underlies a paramount developmental process, i.e. limb formation. This poses the intriguing question of how patterning stability is achieved in a real tissue since, as it grows, cell division events compromise the patterning and, as a consequence, the cell segregation that is critical in the developmental process. Herein we address this question using computational and theoretical means. In particular, we show how cell division dynamics interferes with the patterning process in different ways (from the topological induced disorder to the random binomial distribution of proteins) and we reveal that the interplay of the cell biomechanics and gene regulation is key for understanding tissue homeostais in the context of limb development.