---
OA_place: publisher
_id: '961'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Cell-cell  contact  formation  constitutes  the  first  step  in  the  emergence  of  multicellularity  in
    evolution, thereby  allowing  the  differentiation  of  specialized  cell  types.  In  metazoan
    development, cell-cell contact formation is thought to influence cell fate specification,
    and cell   fate   specification   has   been   implicated   in   cell-cell  contact
    formation.   However, remarkably little is yet known about whether and how the
    interaction and feedback between cell-cell contact formation and cell fate specification
    affect development. Here we identify a positive  feedback  loop  between  cell-cell  contact  duration,  morphogen  signaling  and
    mesendoderm  cell  fate  specification  during  zebrafish  gastrulation.  We  show  that  long
    lasting cell-cell contacts enhance the competence of prechordal plate (ppl) progenitor
    cells to  respond  to  Nodal  signaling,  required  for  proper  ppl  cell  fate  specification.  We  further
    show  that  Nodal  signalling  romotes  ppl  cell-cell  contact  duration,  thereby  generating  an
    effective  positive  feedback  loop  between  ppl  cell-cell  contact  duration  and  cell  fate
    specification. Finally, by using a combination of theoretical modeling and experimentation,
    we  show  that  this  feedback  loop  determines  whether  anterior  axial  mesendoderm  cells
    become  ppl  progenitors  or,  instead,  turn  into  endoderm  progenitors.  Our  findings  reveal
    that  the  gene  regulatory  networks  leading  to  cell  fate  diversification  within  the  developing
    embryo  are  controlled  by  the  interdependent  activities  of  cell-cell  signaling  and  contact
    formation.
acknowledgement: "Many people accompanied me during this trip: I would not have reached
  my destination nor \r\nenjoyed the travelling without them. First of all, thanks
  to CP. Thanks for making me part of \r\nyour team, always full of diverse, interesting
  and incredibly competent people and thanks for \r\nall  the  good  science  I  witnessed
  \ and  participated  in.  It  has  been  a \r\nblast,  an  incredibly \r\nexciting
  \ one!  Thanks  to  JLo,  for  teaching  me  how  to  master  my  pipettes  and
  \ showing  me \r\nthat science is a lot of fun. Many, many thanks to Gabby for teaching
  me basically everything \r\nabout  zebrafish  and  being  always  there  to  advice,
  \ sugge\r\nst,  support...and  play  fussball! \r\nThank you to Julien, for the
  critical eye on things, Pedro, for all the invaluable feedback and \r\nthe amazing
  kicker matches, and Keisuke, for showing me the light, and to the three of them
  \r\ntogether  for  all  the  good  laughs  we\r\nhad.  My  start  in  Vienna  would
  \ have  been  a  lot  more \r\ndifficult  without  you  guys.  Also  it  would  not
  \ have  been  possible  without  Elena  and  Inês: \r\nthanks  for  helping  setting
  \ up  this  lab  and  for  the  dinners  in  Gugging.  Thanks  to  Martin,  for
  \r\nhelping  me  understand \r\nthe  physics  behind  biology.  Thanks  to  Philipp,
  \ for  the  interest  and \r\nadvice, and to Michael, for the Viennise take on things.
  Thanks to Julia, for putting up with \r\nbeing our technician and becoming a friend
  in the process. And now to the newest members \r\nof th\r\ne lab. Thanks to Daniel
  for the enthusiasm and the neverending energy and for all your \r\nhelp over the
  years: thank you! To Jana, for showing me that one doesn’t give up, no matter \r\nwhat.
  \ To  Shayan,  for  being  such  a  motivated  student.  To  Matt,  for  helping
  \ out\r\nwith  coding \r\nand for finding punk solutions to data analysis problems.
  Thanks to all the members of the \r\nlab, Verena, Hitoshi, Silvia, Conny, Karla,
  Nicoletta, Zoltan, Peng, Benoit, Roland, Yuuta and \r\nFeyza,  for  the  wonderful
  \ atmosphere  in  the  lab.  Many  than\r\nks  to  Koni  and  Deborah:  doing \r\nexperiments
  would have been much more difficult without your help. Special thanks to Katjia
  \r\nfor  setting  up  an  amazing  imaging  facility  and  for  building  the  best
  \ team,  Robert,  Nasser, \r\nAnna and Doreen: thank you for putting up w\r\nith
  all the late sortings and for helping with all \r\nthe technical problems. Thanks
  to Eva, Verena and Matthias for keeping the fish happy. Big \r\nthanks to Harald
  Janovjak for being a present and helpful committee member over the years \r\nand
  \ to  Patrick  Lemaire  f\r\nor  the  helpful  insight  and  extremely  interesting
  \ discussion  we  had \r\nabout  the  project.  Also,  this  journey  would  not
  \ have  been  the  same  without  all  the  friends \r\nthat I met in Dresden and
  then in Vienna: Daniele, Claire, Kuba, Steffi, Harold, Dejan, Irene, \r\nFab\r\nienne,
  Hande, Tiago, Marianne, Jon, Srdjan, Branca, Uli, Murat, Alex, Conny, Christoph,
  \r\nCaro, Simone, Barbara, Felipe, Dama, Jose, Hubert and many others that filled
  my days with \r\nfun and support. A special thank to my family, always close even
  if they are \r\nkilometers away. \r\nGrazie  ai  miei  fratelli,  Nunzio  e  William,
  \ e  alla  mia  mamma,  per  essermi  sempre  vicini  pur \r\nvivendo a chilometri
  di distanza. And, last but not least, thanks to Moritz, for putting up with \r\nthe
  crazy life of a scientist, the living apart for\r\nso long, never knowing when things
  are going \r\nto happen. Thanks for being a great partner and my number one fan!"
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Vanessa
  full_name: Barone, Vanessa
  id: 419EECCC-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Barone
  orcid: 0000-0003-2676-3367
citation:
  ama: 'Barone V. Cell adhesion and cell fate: An effective feedback loop during zebrafish
    gastrulation. 2017. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825">10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825</a>'
  apa: 'Barone, V. (2017). <i>Cell adhesion and cell fate: An effective feedback loop
    during zebrafish gastrulation</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825</a>'
  chicago: 'Barone, Vanessa. “Cell Adhesion and Cell Fate: An Effective Feedback Loop
    during Zebrafish Gastrulation.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2017.
    <a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825</a>.'
  ieee: 'V. Barone, “Cell adhesion and cell fate: An effective feedback loop during
    zebrafish gastrulation,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2017.'
  ista: 'Barone V. 2017. Cell adhesion and cell fate: An effective feedback loop during
    zebrafish gastrulation. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.'
  mla: 'Barone, Vanessa. <i>Cell Adhesion and Cell Fate: An Effective Feedback Loop
    during Zebrafish Gastrulation</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria,
    2017, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825">10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825</a>.'
  short: 'V. Barone, Cell Adhesion and Cell Fate: An Effective Feedback Loop during
    Zebrafish Gastrulation, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2017.'
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:49:25Z
date_published: 2017-03-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-06-18T18:12:40Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
- '590'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: CaHe
doi: 10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825
file:
- access_level: closed
  checksum: 242f88c87f2cf267bf05049fa26a687b
  content_type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2019-04-05T08:36:52Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:16Z
  file_id: '6205'
  file_name: 2017_Barone_thesis_final.docx
  file_size: 14497822
  relation: source_file
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: ba5b0613ed8bade73a409acdd880fb8a
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2019-04-05T08:36:52Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:16Z
  file_id: '6206'
  file_name: 2017_Barone_thesis_.pdf
  file_size: 14995941
  relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:16Z
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.15479/AT:ISTA:th_825
has_accepted_license: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '03'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: '109'
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
publist_id: '6444'
pubrep_id: '825'
related_material:
  record:
  - id: '735'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '1100'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '1537'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '3246'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '2926'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '676'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '1912'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
status: public
supervisor:
- first_name: Carl-Philipp J
  full_name: Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp J
  id: 39427864-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Heisenberg
  orcid: 0000-0002-0912-4566
title: 'Cell adhesion and cell fate: An effective feedback loop during zebrafish gastrulation'
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: dissertation
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
year: '2017'
...