Tubular Transformations (5 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Tubular Transformations (5 of 6)

Caption

In a computer simulation, chirality in cells is sufficient to induce the left-handed rotation of a model gut. The team made a computer model of gut cells. Within this model, they introduced a parameter for mimicking chirality of gut cells. By simulating the conversion from chiral cell shape (lower left) to symmetric hexagonal cell shape (lower right), they were able to recapitulate the 90 degree left-handed rotation of the gut in the model. This result suggests that chirality in cells is sufficient to induce the left-handed rotation of the model gut. This image relates to an article that appeared in the July 15, 2011, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by K. Taniguchi of Tokyo University of Science in Noda, Japan, and colleagues was titled, "Chirality in Planar Cell Shape Contributes to Left-Right Asymmetric Epithelial Morphogenesis."

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