Curvature as a Physical Determinant of Tissue Organization

曲率作为组织组织的物理决定因素

• 批准号: 1504301
• 负责人: Sascha Hilgenfeldt
• 金额: $ 31.02万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1504301&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Curvature; Physical; Determinant; Tissue; Organization

This project will investigate the physical properties of living tissue that are important in determining the tissue curvature. The PI will quantitatively determining the number and location of defects in ordered tissues and will develop a mechanical theory of the defect distribution that can be compared with experiment. This constitutes the first quantitative study of tissue curvature as a determining factor of structural organization. Understanding of the morphology and morphogenesis of organisms has grown tremendously based on recent advances in biological and genetic research. Yet, few attempts have been undertaken to describe the development and structure of organs or tissues through quantitative mechanics. The results of this work will be equally applicable to all curved tissue layers that show a degree of order, including cancer cell acini, whose morphology is important for the development of cancer, as well as developing embryos in the morula and blastula stages. As curvature induces constraints on the degree of order, it may play a role in symmetry breaking and polarization, and thus in the earliest patterning of the embryo. Describing a direct influence of mechanical forces on cell development will be a fundamental advance towards a better understanding of morphogenesis and tissue formation in the context of both diagnostics and therapy, e.g. tissue regeneration or cancer. Data acquisition will employ the help of undergraduate students as well as outreach to high school students through the existing Bugscope project at Illinois, thus connecting with the broader public through a visually fascinating and interdisciplinary project.This project focuses on insect eyes as a concrete example of an ordered tissue structure, because of the extreme regularity of the compound eye, the large number of individual eyes (ommatidia) in the compound eye, and the relative ease with which the structure can be quantitatively analyzed. Using both SEM imaging and confocal microscopy, the goals are to (i) determine the complete microstructure of the ommatidia and (ii) determine the macrostructure (global shape and curvature) of the eye, in order to (iii) compare the number and position of ommatidial defects with those predicted by the mechanical theory of curved patterned surfaces. The existing theory of defect placement on curved surfaces (developed for a limited number of examples from solid state physics) will be adapted to the more general shapes encountered in insect eyes. Both numerical simulations and analytical theory will be developed. While Drosophila wild-type and mutant eyes in mature and pupal stages will be the main focus, the variety of insect eye sizes and shapes in different species is an asset to this study.

这个项目将研究活组织的物理特性，这对确定组织曲率很重要。PI将定量地确定有序组织中缺陷的数量和位置，并将发展一种可以与实验进行比较的缺陷分布的力学理论。这构成了第一个定量研究的组织曲率作为一个决定因素的结构组织。基于生物学和遗传学研究的最新进展，对生物体的形态和形态发生的理解有了巨大的增长。然而，很少有人试图通过定量力学来描述器官或组织的发育和结构。这项工作的结果将同样适用于所有弯曲的组织层，显示一定程度的秩序，包括癌细胞腺泡，其形态是重要的癌症的发展，以及发育中的胚胎在桑椹胚和囊胚阶段。由于曲率导致对有序度的限制，它可能在对称性破缺和极化中发挥作用，从而在胚胎的最早模式中发挥作用。描述机械力对细胞发育的直接影响将是在诊断和治疗（例如组织再生或癌症）的背景下更好地理解形态发生和组织形成的根本性进步。数据采集将利用本科生的帮助，并通过伊利诺伊州现有的Bugscope项目推广到高中生，从而通过一个视觉上迷人的跨学科项目与更广泛的公众联系。这个项目的重点是昆虫的眼睛，作为有序组织结构的一个具体例子，因为复眼的极端规则性，复眼中有大量的单个眼睛（小眼），并且可以相对容易地对结构进行定量分析。使用SEM成像和共聚焦显微镜，目标是（i）确定小眼的完整微观结构和（ii）确定眼睛的宏观结构（整体形状和曲率），以便（iii）将小眼缺陷的数量和位置与弯曲图案化表面的机械理论预测的数量和位置进行比较。现有的曲面上的缺陷放置理论（从固态物理的有限数量的例子开发）将适应于昆虫眼睛中遇到的更一般的形状。数值模拟和分析理论都将得到发展。虽然果蝇的野生型和突变型眼睛在成熟和蛹阶段将是主要的焦点，昆虫眼睛的大小和形状在不同的物种是一个资产，这项研究。