Fluctuation spectra of embryonic cell-cell interfaces reveal inverse-square scaling

Abstract

Tissue-scale shape changes are driven by ensembles of intracellular forces. However measuring force in these contexts remains a difficult challenge. Here we perform spectral analysis of transverse fluctuations of cell-cell junctions in \emph{Xenopus} embryonic tissue explants undergoing convergent extension. We developed an image analysis pipeline to extract fluctuation amplitude profiles $u(x,t)$ from time-lapse confocal movies and computed two-dimensional spatiotemporal power spectra. We observe power-law scaling of mean-squared fluctuation power spectra consistent with $⟨u_q^2⟩\sim q^{-2}$ and $⟨u_f^2⟩\sim f^{-2}$. The spatial scaling agrees with predictions from the Helfrich Hamiltonian, and the temporal scaling agrees with overdamped dynamics of a fluctuating membrane, both in the tension-dominated regime. Pharmacological reduction of actomyosin contractility (via low-dose blebbistatin or latrunculin B) did not significantly alter either scaling exponent. Our results provide an early empirical characterization of junction fluctuation spectra in an actively shape-changing tissue. Simple tension-dominated membrane models appear sufficient to describe transverse junction dynamics despite their active and coupled nature. This work establishes a quantitative baseline for future studies of tension-bearing tissues and motivates the development of physical models specific to multicellular systems.

17 pages, 5 figures