In vitro analysis suggests that difference in cell movement during direct interaction can generate various pigment patterns in vivo

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1315416111
• Publication Date: 2014-01-22T04:02:30Z
• Authors: Hiroaki Yamanaka; Shigeru Kondo
• Keywords: Mice; Cell Movement; Pigmentation; Mutation; Statistics as Topic; Animal Fins; Melanophores; Animals; Cell Communication; Cell Separation; Models, Biological; Zebrafish

Significance The periodic pigment patterns of organisms, such as spots and stripes, have suggested the presence of a mathematical system generating the patterns. The most famous one is the reaction–diffusion system. Although the system explains the pattern formation well, the biological substances corresponding to the diffusive factors in the system have not been elucidated. Here, we observed the behavior of zebrafish pigment cells in vitro and found that WT cells showed run-and-chase movement in the direct interaction, whereas the pattern mutant cells showed different cell movement. These results suggested that gene mutations affect the reaction–diffusion system by changing the cell movement, which corresponds to the interaction of diffusive factors in the reaction–diffusion system.