Annuaire
They all look the same, but they do differently to achieve an asymmetric cell division.
The team of Marie Delattre has recorded the first asymmetric embryonic division of ~40 species of nematodes closely related to the model C. elegans and obtained a powerful collection of cellular phenotypes to address evolutionary questions. In collaboration with another researcher fo the LBMC, Marie Sémon, they analyzed the movements of the spindle during this asymmetric embryonic division. They demonstrated that, while the essential process of asymmetric cell division has been conserved over the course of nematode evolution, the underlying spindle mechanics have changed rapidly. Collectively, these data highlight that essential cellular functions are subject to system drift, reenforcing the notion that extensive analyses on model organisms cannot be simply transposed to other species. This study was published in January 2018 in PlosBiology.
