ArticleeLife2022
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition proceeds through directional destabilization of multidimensional attractor.
Article in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cellular Morphometric Analysis (CellMorph)-a comprehensive imaging-based tool for quantifying cellular phenotype heterogeneity and dynamics across biological processes.The FEBS journal · 2026Article
- Molecular noise modulates transitions in the cell-fate differentiation landscape.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2026Article
- Single-cell morphodynamical trajectories enable prediction of gene expression accompanying cell state change.Cell systems · 2026Article
- Scalable longitudinal imaging and transcriptomics of cells in dynamic enclosures.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Review
- Single cell snapshot analyses under proper representation reveal that epithelial-mesenchymal transition couples at G1 and G2/M.Communications biology · 2026Article
- A morphology-based machine learning model for scoring epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity using organelle dynamics.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Deep Disentangled Representation Learning Reveals Neuron Subtype-Specific Nuclear Morphologies Across Aging in Mice and Humans.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Emergent dynamics of cellular decision making in multi-node mutually repressive regulatory networks.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Classification of differentially activated groups of fibroblasts using morphodynamic and motile features.APL bioengineering · 2025Article
- Transition paths across the epithelial-mesenchymal transition landscape are dictated by network logic.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2025Article
- Dynamics of Single-Cell Protein Covariation during Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.Journal of proteome research · 2025Article
- Transiently increased coordination in gene regulation during cell phenotypic transitions.PRX life · 2024Article
- Reconstruction of single-cell lineage trajectories and identification of diversity in fates during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Regulating epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity from 3D genome organization.Communications biology · 2024Review
- Dynamics of single-cell protein covariation during epithelial-mesenchymal transition.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Data- and theory-driven approaches for understanding paths of epithelial-mesenchymal transition.Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) · 2024Review
- Machine learning inference of continuous single-cell state transitions during myoblast differentiation and fusion.Molecular systems biology · 2024Article
- Facilitating cell segmentation with the projection-enhancement network.Physical biology · 2023Article
- Understanding and leveraging phenotypic plasticity during metastasis formation.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
How a cell changes from one stable phenotype to another one is a fundamental problem in developmental and cell biology. Mathematically, a stable phenotype corresponds to a stable attractor in a generally multi-dimensional state space, which needs to be destabilized so the cell relaxes to a new attractor. Two basic mechanisms for destabilizing a stable fixed point, pitchfork and saddle-node bifurcations, have been extensively studied theoretically; however, direct experimental investigation at the single-cell level remains scarce. Here, we performed live cell imaging studies and analyses in the framework of dynamical systems theories on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). While some mechanistic details remain controversial, EMT is a cell phenotypic transition (CPT) process central to development and pathology. Through time-lapse imaging we recorded single cell trajectories of human A549/Vim-RFP cells undergoing EMT induced by different concentrations of exogenous TGF-β in a multi-dimensional cell feature space. The trajectories clustered into two distinct groups, indicating that the transition dynamics proceeds through parallel paths. We then reconstructed the reaction coordinates and the corresponding quasi-potentials from the trajectories. The potentials revealed a plausible mechanism for the emergence of the two paths where the original stable epithelial attractor collides with two saddle points sequentially with increased TGF-β concentration, and relaxes to a new one. Functionally, the directional saddle-node bifurcation ensures a CPT proceeds towards a specific cell type, as a mechanistic realization of the canalization idea proposed by Waddington.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.