Figure 7. Phase diagram of strain rate and decay time constant.

Cell contraction rate (y axis) and cell mechanical properties (x axis) of the different wild type and mutant situations. The results presented in this work show that ASGal4/UASDia^CA embryos show fast AS cell contraction rate and cells are more solid-like than wild type cells, ASGal4/UASctMLCK embryos show slow cell contraction rate and cells are also more solid-like than wild type cells, and ASGal4/UASMbsN300 embryos show low cell contraction rate and cells are more fluid-like than wild type cells. Based on the results from this work and from previous published work (Ma et al., 2009), we propose that wild type embryos increase their cell contraction rate and become more solid-like during DC.