Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Introduction: Tissue elongation is a fundamental morphogenetic process that elongates the body axis of almost all animals and is also required for the development of multiple organ systems. It is a multiscale process that presents stereotypic behaviors at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels and beyond. Here, we explore the biomechanical mechanisms that link cell behaviors to tissue shaping.
Materials and
Methods: We developed and applied new image-based, noninvasive methods to assess mechanical forces at different scales during the development of Xenopus embryos. We have also integrated both static and dynamic computational models to examine the functions of cellular forces in collective cell behaviors. Additionally, a disease-related gene knockdown that induces subtle mechanical defects at the subcellular scale was used as a tool to disrupt the multiscale mechanical linkages.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: We found that cellular forces regulate the cell packing configuration, allowing the planar polarized propagation of both cellular forces and cell intercalation. It suggests that local cell movement works in synergy to facilitate the tissue-scale convergent extension. We further found that when a disease-related gene is disrupted, subtle changes to cellular forces can cause defects to escalate over time and affect morphogenesis at larger scales.
Our data suggest a multiscale mechanical system that efficiently supports tissue morphogenesis. It provides new cell biological and biomechanical insights into this fundamental morphogenetic process and its implications for congenital anomalies.
