Developmental control of the C. elegans cell cycle

Abstract

During the development of organisms, cell divisions ensure that the correct number of cells are formed in the right positions and with the right identity. Asymmetric cell divisions, divisions that lead to daughter cells with unequal content and/or size, promote diversity of cells and can limit a differentiation program to one of the daughter cells. During development, the balance between multiplication of the number of cells, as occurs in the cell cycle, and the development of cell-, organ- and tissue-specific properties of non-dividing differentiated cells must be strictly regulated. The research described in this thesis focusses on several aspects of cell cycle regulation in the roundworm C. elegans. This work contributes to our understanding of how forces arise in the mother cell that influence the size and symmetry of the daughter cells. Additionally, we study how factors switch on programs that influence the balance between multiplication and differentiation of cells. Finally, we investigate how during the cell cycle it is determined when cells cease their divisions. The results described in this thesis provide new insights into how cell division is controlled and how this control can go wrong. With these insights, this work provides information that in the future hopefully can lead to solutions to repair these errors in the cell cycle.