Computable early Caenorhabditis elegans embryo with a phase field model
Fig 3
Comparison of embryo morphology between simulation and experiment from 6- to 8-cell stages.
(A). The upper panel, embryo morphology at the last moment of 6-cell stage. (B). The middle panel, embryo morphology at the last moment of 7-cell stage. (C). The lower panel, embryo morphology at the last moment of 8-cell stage (with attraction motif on ABpl-E contact, i.e., σABpl, E = σW). In each panel, embryo morphology in simulation and experiment are respectively illustrated on the left and right in three orthogonal observation directions, while a cell-cell contact map is placed in their top left corners. About the map in simulation, dark and light gray shades denote relatively strong (σ = σS) and weak (σ = σW) attraction respectively, while black dots represent the contacted cell pairs. About the map in experiment, black dots represent the conserved contacted cell pairs, while empty circles represent the unconserved contacted cell pairs [34]. The relationship between cell identity and color is listed next to the contact maps. The quantitative experimental data is obtained at the last moment (time point) of each stage.