Epigenetic Landscape of Interacting Cells: A Model Simulation for Developmental Process

TL;DR

This paper introduces a minimal physical model simulating cellular interactions to understand the epigenetic landscape and differentiation as a self-organizing developmental process, highlighting landscape evolution from rugged to funnel-like structures.

Contribution

It presents a simplified, network-based model that captures the dynamic evolution of the epigenetic landscape during development, integrating gene regulation effects into cell interactions.

Findings

Early development landscape is rugged with high susceptibility to fluctuations.

Later development landscape becomes funnel-shaped, indicating stable differentiation.

Model demonstrates the stability and reversibility of cell differentiation states.

Abstract

We propose a physical model for developmental process at cellular level to discuss the mechanism of epigenetic landscape. In our simplified model, a minimal model, the network of the interaction among cells generates the landscape epigenetically and the differentiation in developmental process is understood as a self-organization. The effect of the regulation by gene expression which is a key ingredient in development is renormalized into the interaction and the environment. At earlier stage of the development the energy landscape of the model is rugged with small amplitude. The state of cells in such a landscape is susceptible to fluctuations and not uniquely determined. These cells are regarded as stem cells. At later stage of the development the landscape has a funnel-like structure corresponding to the canalization in differentiation. The rewinding or stability of the differentiation is also demonstrated by substituting test cells into the time sequence of the model development.