Collective oscillations of coupled cell cycles. Author Binglun Shao, Rocky Diegmiller, Stanislav Shvartsman Publication Year 2021 Type Journal Article Abstract Problems with networks of coupled oscillators arise in multiple contexts, commonly leading to the question about the dependence of network dynamics on network structure. Previous work has addressed this question in Drosophila oogenesis, in which stable cytoplasmic bridges connect the future oocyte to the supporting nurse cells that supply the oocyte with molecules and organelles needed for its development. To increase their biosynthetic capacity, nurse cells enter the endoreplication program, a special form of the cell cycle formed by the iterated repetition of growth and synthesis phases without mitosis. Recent studies have revealed that the oocyte orchestrates nurse cell endoreplication cycles, based on retrograde (oocyte to nurse cells) transport of a cell cycle inhibitor produced by the nurse cells and localized to the oocyte. Furthermore, the joint dynamics of endocycles has been proposed to depend on the intercellular connectivity within the oocyte-nurse cell cluster. We use a computational model to argue that this connectivity guides, but does not uniquely determine the collective dynamics and identify several oscillatory regimes, depending on the timescale of intercellular transport. Our results provide insights into collective dynamics of coupled cell cycles and motivate future quantitative studies of intercellular communication in the germline cell clusters. Keywords Animals, Drosophila, Mitosis, Oocytes, Oogenesis, Germ Cells Journal Biophys J Volume 120 Issue 19 Pages 4242-4251 Date Published 2021 Oct 05 ISSN Number 1542-0086 DOI 10.1016/j.bpj.2021.06.029 Alternate Journal Biophys J PMCID PMC8516640 PMID 34197797 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML