Cooperative short- and long-range interactions enable robust symmetry breaking and axis formation.

ABSTRACT: The establishment of the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis is the first symmetry-breaking event in mammalian development, transforming initially uniform cell populations into a polarized body plan. Gastruloids, aggregates of embryonic stem cells, recapitulate this transition by reproducibly forming a posterior primitive-streak-like pole. To investigate the underlying physical principles, we constructed a coarse-grained agent-based model representing two radially differentiated cell populations - outer/peripheral and inner/core - interacting via short-range adhesion/surface tension and optional long-range, chemotaxis-like forces. Systematic exploration of this morphogenetic landscape revealed that adhesion alone cannot robustly generate a single axis, often leading to weak or unstable asymmetri

SUBMITTER: Guan G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12621816 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature