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Rong Li Lab Applies Mathematical Modeling to Live Cell Fluorescence Data to Elucidate Mechanisms that Maintain Cellular Asymmetry Kansas City, Mo. (Dec. 15, 2009) – The Stowers Institute’s Rong Li Lab has utilized a combination of live cell fluorescence data and mathematical modeling to shed light on the ability of yeast cells to maintain an asymmetric distribution of the Rho GTPase, Cdc42, a master regulator of cell polarity in eukaryotic organisms. They found that dynamics of Cdc42 recycling are tuned to facilitate formation of distinct morphologies in yeast. The work was published today by the journal Developmental Cell. Recent studies have begun to explain how cells initially break their symmetry, but it has remained poorly understood how regulatory molecules are distributed within the cell to give rise to specific shapes in response to development signals. In this work, the Rong Li Lab collaborated with members of the Institute’s Imaging and Bioinformatics facilities to model the mechanisms of dynamic maintenance of Cdc42 polarization. “By working closely with the Institute’s Imaging and Bioinformatics groups, we were able to model mechanisms of Cdc42 membrane recycling. Two mechanisms work together to maintain the asymmetric distribution of Cdc42: fast recycling mediated by the protein Rdi1, and slow recycling through actin-mediated endocytosis,” said Brian Slaughter, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Associate and first author on the publication. “We found that the dynamics of Cdc42 recycling through these mechanisms are tuned to give rise to different cellular shapes in yeast, either formation of a round bud required for proliferation or a pointed ‘shmoo’ required for mating.” “In this paper, we described and analyzed, for the first time, the state of cell polarity using a truly quantitative model and parameters measured in living cells. The work demonstrates the power of mathematical and quantitative imaging approaches in answering fundamental questions about cellular morphogenesis,” said Rong Li, Ph.D., Investigator and senior author on the paper. “We are so fortunate to be surrounded by gifted colleagues at the Stowers Institute who think creatively to work across disciplines and apply technology to important problems of basic science. We are proud of what this team was able to accomplish by applying a variety of approaches to try to explain one of the most elusive problems in cell biology; i.e., how cells define their shapes during diverse physiological processes.” Additional contributing authors from the Stowers Institute include Arupratan Das, Predoctoral Researcher; Joel Schwartz, Ph.D., formerly Managing Director of Imaging Center; and Boris Rubinstein, Ph.D., Biomathematician. Dr. Li also holds a faculty appointment as a Professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at The University of Kansas School of Medicine. Learn more about her work at www.stowers.org/labs/RongLiLab.asp. About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
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