Screening by changes in stereotypical behavior during cell motility

Tweedy, L., Witzel, P., Heinrich, D., Insall, R. H. and Endres, R. G. (2019) Screening by changes in stereotypical behavior during cell motility. Scientific Reports, 9, 8784. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45305-w) (PMID:31217532) (PMCID:PMC6584642)

Abstract

Stereotyped behaviors are series of postures that show very little variability between repeats. They have been used to classify the dynamics of individuals, groups and species without reference to the lower-level mechanisms that drive them. Stereotypes are easily identified in animals due to strong constraints on the number, shape, and relative positions of anatomical features, such as limbs, that may be used as landmarks for posture identification. In contrast, the identification of stereotypes in single cells poses a significant challenge as the cell lacks these landmark features, and finding constraints on cell shape is a non-trivial task. Here, we use the maximum caliber variational method to build a minimal model of cell behavior during migration. Without reference to biochemical details, we are able to make behavioral predictions over timescales of minutes using only changes in cell shape over timescales of seconds. We use drug treatment and genetics to demonstrate that maximum caliber descriptors can discriminate between healthy and aberrant migration, thereby showing potential applications for maximum caliber methods in automated disease screening, for example in the identification of behaviors associated with cancer metastasis.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by Cancer Research UK core funding (L.T.), the Deutsche Forschungs-gemeinschaft (DFG fund HE5958/2-1), the Volkswagen Foundation grant I/85100 (D.H), and the BBSRC grant BB/N00065X/1 (R.G.E.) well as the ERC Starting Grant 280492-PPHPI (R.G.E.).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Insall, Professor Robert
• Authors: Tweedy, L., Witzel, P., Heinrich, D., Insall, R. H., and Endres, R. G.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cancer Sciences
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 9: 8784
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License