Pattern Formation

Our main goal in the single-cell pattern formation problem is to convert subcellular pattern formation from a descriptive topic to more quantitative and mechanistic ones. To this end, we aim to define these fascinating phenomena with quantitative parameters (oscillation frequency, duration, amplitude, propagation speed, nucleation, geometry) and dissect each one of them.

Some of the questions we are interested in are:

What regulates cortical oscillations in time?

We demonstrated that phosphoinositide metabolism could precisely regulate frequency, duration and amplitude of the cortical oscillation (Xiong et al., Nature Chemical Biology 2016). We collaborated with Fubito Nakatsu, Niigata University, Japan and Lin, Qingsong, NUS, Singapore for this project.

How do cortical waves propagate in space?

In collaboration with a theoretical group (Jian Liu at NIH), we developed a mechano-chemical model where we propose that the spatial propagation is mediated by curvature instead of chemical diffusion (Wu, Su et al., Nature Communications 2018 ). We tested this model by characterizing the curvature and tension sensitivity of the waves and demonstrated experimentally that curvature-generating proteins (F-BAR proteins FBP17 and CIP4) and their curvature preferences are specifically required for the wave propagation.