Analysis of adhesive properties of embryonic cells during zebrafish gastrulation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Carl-Philipp Heisenberg
• Subject Area: Developmental Biology
• Term: from 2006 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 24882653

Gastrulation in vertebrates constitutes the first process in development when cells with different identities separate from each other and sort into distinct tissues (germ layers). Differential cell adhesion between cells of the forming germ layers – ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm – has been postulated to play an important role in germ layer formation and separation. However, there is no clear experimental evidence yet, which quantitatively describes the different adhesive properties of germ layer cells. We therefore will determine the adhesion of single cells from the forming germ layers by using atomic force microscopy. We will test both the adhesion of these cells to substrates decorated with different adhesion molecules such as E-cadherin and fibronectin (cell-substrate adhesion) and the adhesion of single germ layer cells to each other (cell-cell adhesion). We expect that the results obtained from these experiments will provide insight into the role of cell adhesion for germ layer formation during vertebrate gastrulation.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants