Cell migration in the early C. elegans embryo

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Our interest in this research proposal will be to explore the events and factors that regulate early myoblast  migration during embryogenesis in the nematode C. elegans. After gastrulation, muscle precursor cells migrate away from the midline and position themselves into four distinct quadrants adjacent to the dorsal and ventral hypodermal cells. This migration is initiated while the myoblasts are still undergoing cell division and migration continues even into the early stages of elongation. These cell migrations follow a pattern where,  in the final round of cell division, the anterior daughter of a myoblast migrates ventrally, while the posterior daughter migrates to the dorsal quadrant. This stereotypical cell division and migration behaviour lends itself to experimental perturbation. We do not know how cells in a developing embryo in any organism find their way amongst all other cells to their final destination. The nemaode C. elegans provides a relatively controlled environment in which to determine how cell pathfinding occurs during development.