IBENS, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure

Combining cell transplantation, cytoskeletal labeling and loss/gain of function approaches, this protocol describes how the migrating zebrafish prospective prechordal plate can be used to analyze the function of a candidate gene in in vivo cell migration.

Embryonic development requires large-scale coordination of cell motion. Two-photon excitation mediated laser ablation allows the spatially controlled 3-dimensional ablation of large groups of deep cells. In addition, this technique can probe the reaction of collectively migrating cells in vivo to perturbations in their mechanical environment.