Early onset of regionalization in EMS lineage of C. elegans embryo: A quantitative study

Abstract

Early localization of C. elegans founder cell descendents in certain regions of embryo has been documented. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the onset of ABp and EMS descendent cell regionalization in the embryo using the random motility coefficient as a quantitative parameter. The forward migration index (FMI) was also calculated in order to evaluate the chemotatic biases of ABp-dc and EMS-dc during regionalization. The results showed that the random motility coefficient declined as the cells tended to regionalize. The mean squared displacement (MSD) versus time plot showed a non-linear model which indicated non-random cell movement. FMI showed progressive increase as the cells tended to regionalized, and it was significantly higher in EMS-dc than ABp-dc, moreover the chemotatic biases were higher in EMS-dc than ABp-dc. The circular plots showed that the statistical differences between the two lineages were significant, while ABp-dc showed significant differences in xy, xz and yz planes; EMS derived cells showed no significant differences except in yz planes. The conclusion of this study is that the onset of early regionalization occurs in EMS-dc sooner than in ABp-dc.