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Possible Origins of Macroscopic Left-Right Asymmetry in Organisms

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Abstract

I consider the microscopic mechanisms by which a particular left-right (L/R) asymmetry is generated at the organism level from the microscopic handedness of cytoskeletal molecules. In light of a fundamental symmetry principle, the typical pattern-formation mechanisms of diffusion plus regulation cannot implement the “right-hand rule”; at the microscopic level, the cell’s cytoskeleton of chiral filaments seems always to be involved, usually in collective states driven by polymerization forces or molecular motors. It seems particularly easy for handedness to emerge in a shear or rotation in the background of an effectively two-dimensional system, such as the cell membrane or a layer of cells, as this requires no pre-existing axis apart from the layer normal. I detail a scenario involving actin/myosin layers in snails and in C. elegans, and also one about the microtubule layer in plant cells. I also survey the other examples that I am aware of, such as the emergence of handedness in neurons, in eukaryote cell motility, and in non-flagellated bacteria.

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Notes

  1. A “phage capsid” is the protein container of a virus that infects bacteria.

  2. I am grateful to Victor Luria for this suggestion.

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Acknowledgements

I thank S. Grill, T. Hashimoto, F. Jülicher, M. Levin, V. Luria, N. Sanjana, S. Seung, E.D. Siggia, G.O. Wasteneys, N. Wingreen, R. Chachra, and J.X. Shen, for discussions and communications (and the last two for collaborations). This work was supported by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, grant DE-FG-ER45405.

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    Christopher L. Henley

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Henley, C.L. Possible Origins of Macroscopic Left-Right Asymmetry in Organisms. J Stat Phys 148, 741–775 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-012-0520-z

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