Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation
Abstract During development, three-dimensional morphology arises from the balance of forces acting on cells and tissues, and their material properties. Cellular forces have been investigated, however the characterisation and specification of cell material properties remains poorly understood. Here,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61702-4 |
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| author | Juan Manuel Gomez Carlo Bevilacqua Abhisha Thayambath Jean-Karim Heriche Maria Leptin Julio M. Belmonte Robert Prevedel |
| author_facet | Juan Manuel Gomez Carlo Bevilacqua Abhisha Thayambath Jean-Karim Heriche Maria Leptin Julio M. Belmonte Robert Prevedel |
| author_sort | Juan Manuel Gomez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract During development, three-dimensional morphology arises from the balance of forces acting on cells and tissues, and their material properties. Cellular forces have been investigated, however the characterisation and specification of cell material properties remains poorly understood. Here, we characterise and spatially map in three dimensions the dynamics of the longitudinal modulus at GHz frequencies to characterise the evolving blastoderm material properties during Drosophila gastrulation utilising line-scan Brillouin microscopy. We find that blastoderm cells undergo rapid and spatially varying changes in their material properties and that these differ in cells with different fates and behaviours. We identify microtubules as potential mechano-effectors, and develop a physical model to understand the role of localised and dynamic changes in material properties during tissue folding. Our work provides the first spatio-temporal description of evolving material properties during organismal morphogenesis, and highlights the potential of Brillouin microscopy for studying the dynamic changes in cell shape and cell material properties simultaneously. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-90b0db7b4b3f4337a520d792256a6ab2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-90b0db7b4b3f4337a520d792256a6ab22025-08-20T04:03:02ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111710.1038/s41467-025-61702-4Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulationJuan Manuel Gomez0Carlo Bevilacqua1Abhisha Thayambath2Jean-Karim Heriche3Maria Leptin4Julio M. Belmonte5Robert Prevedel6Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Quantitative and Computational Developmental Biology Cluster, North Carolina State UniversityCell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Quantitative and Computational Developmental Biology Cluster, North Carolina State UniversityCell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Abstract During development, three-dimensional morphology arises from the balance of forces acting on cells and tissues, and their material properties. Cellular forces have been investigated, however the characterisation and specification of cell material properties remains poorly understood. Here, we characterise and spatially map in three dimensions the dynamics of the longitudinal modulus at GHz frequencies to characterise the evolving blastoderm material properties during Drosophila gastrulation utilising line-scan Brillouin microscopy. We find that blastoderm cells undergo rapid and spatially varying changes in their material properties and that these differ in cells with different fates and behaviours. We identify microtubules as potential mechano-effectors, and develop a physical model to understand the role of localised and dynamic changes in material properties during tissue folding. Our work provides the first spatio-temporal description of evolving material properties during organismal morphogenesis, and highlights the potential of Brillouin microscopy for studying the dynamic changes in cell shape and cell material properties simultaneously.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61702-4 |
| spellingShingle | Juan Manuel Gomez Carlo Bevilacqua Abhisha Thayambath Jean-Karim Heriche Maria Leptin Julio M. Belmonte Robert Prevedel Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation Nature Communications |
| title | Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation |
| title_full | Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation |
| title_fullStr | Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation |
| title_short | Highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during Drosophila gastrulation |
| title_sort | highly dynamic mechanical transitions in embryonic cell populations during drosophila gastrulation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61702-4 |
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