Abstract
The geometry of reductive divisions that mark the development of early embryos instructs cell fates, sizes, and positions, by mechanisms that remain unclear. In that context, new methods to mechanically manipulate these divisions are starting to emerge in different model systems. These are key to develop future innovative approaches and understand developmental mechanisms controlled by cleavage geometry. In particular, how cell cycle pace is regulated in rapidly reducing blastomeres and how fate diversity can arise from blastomere size and position within embryos are fundamental questions that remain at the heart of ongoing research. In this chapter, we provide a detailed protocol to assemble and use magnetic tweezers in the sea urchin model and generate spatially controlled asymmetric and oriented divisions during early embryonic development.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the Appel Emergence en recherche (“MAGNUC”) from Université de Paris to JS, and grants from La Ligue Contre le Cancer (EL2021. LNCC/ NiM), the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller (“Coup d’Elan”), and the European Research Council (ERC CoG “Forcaster” no. 647073) to NM. JX. acknowledges the “Ecole Doctorale FIRE (Frontières de l’Innovation en Recherche et Education) – Program Bettencourt,” a fellowship from the Chinese Scholarship Council (201708070046), and from the LabEx “Who am I?” (ANR-11-LABX-0071). DLL is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35GM134885 and P20GM103432).
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Xie, J., Levy, D.L., Minc, N., Sallé, J. (2024). Manipulation of Embryonic Cleavage Geometry Using Magnetic Tweezers. In: Castro, A., Lacroix, B. (eds) Cell Cycle Control. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2740. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3557-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3557-5_8
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