Emergence of cellular nematic order is a conserved feature of gastrulation in animal embryos.

ABSTRACT: Cells undergo dramatic changes in morphology during embryogenesis, yet how these changes affect the formation of ordered tissues remains elusive. Here we find that the emergence of a nematic liquid crystal phase occurs in cells during gastrulation in the development of embryos of fish, frogs, and fruit flies. Moreover, the spatial correlations in all three organisms are long-ranged and follow a similar power-law decay (y∼x-α) with α less than unity for the nematic order parameter, suggesting a common underlying physical mechanism unifies events in these distantly related species. All three species exhibit similar propagation of the nematic phase, reminiscent of nucleation and growth phenomena. Finally, we use a theoretical model along with disruptions of cell adhesion and cell specificatio

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11275887 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature