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Current Opinion in Cell Biology Oct 2018Morphogenesis encompasses the developmental processes that reorganize groups of cells into functional tissues and organs. The spatiotemporal patterning of individual... (Review)
Review
Morphogenesis encompasses the developmental processes that reorganize groups of cells into functional tissues and organs. The spatiotemporal patterning of individual cell behaviors is influenced by how cells perceive and respond to mechanical forces, and determines final tissue architecture. Here, we review recent work examining the physical mechanisms of tissue morphogenesis in vertebrate and invertebrate models, discuss how epithelial cells employ contractility to induce global changes that lead to tissue folding, and describe how tissue form itself regulates cell behavior. We then highlight novel tools to recapitulate these processes in engineered tissues.
Topics: Animals; Biomechanical Phenomena; Cellular Microenvironment; Epithelial Cells; Humans; Models, Biological; Morphogenesis; Organogenesis
PubMed: 29890398
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2018.05.012 -
Developmental Dynamics : An Official... Mar 2016The upper jaw in vertebrates forms from several prominences that arise around the stomodeum or primitive mouth. These prominences undergo coordinated growth and... (Review)
Review
The upper jaw in vertebrates forms from several prominences that arise around the stomodeum or primitive mouth. These prominences undergo coordinated growth and morphogenesis to fuse and form the face. Undirected, regionalized cell proliferation is thought to be the driving force behind the morphogenesis of the facial prominences. However, recent findings suggest that directed cell behaviors in the mesenchyme (e.g., directed cell division, directed cell movement, convergent extension) might be required for successful face formation. Here we discuss the evidence for this view and how directed behaviors may interact with the basement membrane to regulate morphogenesis of the facial region. We believe that future research in these largely unexplored areas could significantly impact our understanding of facial morphogenesis.
Topics: Animals; Birds; Face; Morphogenesis
PubMed: 26637960
DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.24374 -
Developmental Dynamics : An Official... Jul 2014Compared with the joints of the limbs, our understanding of the genes that regulate development and growth in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is fairly limited.... (Review)
Review
Compared with the joints of the limbs, our understanding of the genes that regulate development and growth in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is fairly limited. Because the morphogenesis of the secondary cartilage and other intra-articular structures in the TMJ occurs later and in a different manner than in the limbs, the genetic control of TMJ development might reasonably be assumed to differ from that in the limbs. However, studies of the specific genes regulating TMJ morphogenesis and growth have only begun to appear in the literature within the last decade. This review attempts to survey and interpret the existing knowledge on this topic and to suggest fruitful avenues of investigation for the future. Studies to date using knockout and over-expression of candidate genes suggest that a developmental hierarchy of joint structures exists, with condyle development primary. A hierarchy of gene expression also exists: Runx2 and Sox9 expression is critical for condylar cartilage formation. Several of the other genes discussed in this report may regulate TMJ morphogenesis by affecting Sox9 and Runx2 expression and control the ihh-PTHrP axis by means of these genes.
Topics: Animals; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Humans; Joints; Mice; Morphogenesis; Temporomandibular Joint
PubMed: 24668501
DOI: 10.1002/dvdy.24130 -
Current Biology : CB Nov 2022Development is a highly dynamic process in which organisms often experience changes in both form and behavior, which are typically coupled to each other. However,...
Development is a highly dynamic process in which organisms often experience changes in both form and behavior, which are typically coupled to each other. However, little is known about how organismal-scale behaviors such as body contractility and motility impact morphogenesis. Here, we use the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis as a developmental model to uncover a mechanistic link between organismal size, shape, and behavior. Using quantitative live imaging in a large population of developing animals, combined with molecular and biophysical experiments, we demonstrate that the muscular-hydraulic machinery that controls body movement also drives larva-polyp morphogenesis. We show that organismal size largely depends on cavity inflation through fluid uptake, whereas body shape is constrained by the organization of the muscular system. The generation of ethograms identifies different trajectories of size and shape development in sessile and motile animals, which display distinct patterns of body contractions. With a simple theoretical model, we conceptualize how pressures generated by muscular hydraulics can act as a global mechanical regulator that coordinates tissue remodeling. Altogether, our findings illustrate how organismal contractility and motility behaviors can influence morphogenesis.
Topics: Animals; Larva; Morphogenesis; Sea Anemones
PubMed: 36115340
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.065 -
Cells, Tissues, Organs 2018Oxygen is a vital source of energy necessary to sustain and complete embryonic development. Not only is oxygen the driving force for many cellular functions and... (Review)
Review
Oxygen is a vital source of energy necessary to sustain and complete embryonic development. Not only is oxygen the driving force for many cellular functions and metabolism, but it is also involved in regulating stem cell fate, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. Low oxygen levels are the naturally preferred microenvironment for most processes during early development and mainly drive proliferation. Later on, more oxygen and also nutrients are needed for organogenesis and morphogenesis. Therefore, it is critical to maintain oxygen levels within a narrow range as required during development. Modulating oxygen tensions is performed via oxygen homeostasis mainly through the function of hypoxia-inducible factors. Through the function of these factors, oxygen levels are sensed and regulated in different tissues, starting from their embryonic state to adult development. To be able to mimic this process in a tissue engineering setting, it is important to understand the role and levels of oxygen in each developmental stage, from embryonic stem cell differentiation to organogenesis and morphogenesis. Taking lessons from native tissue microenvironments, researchers have explored approaches to control oxygen tensions such as hemoglobin-based, perfluorocarbon-based, and oxygen-generating biomaterials, within synthetic tissue engineering scaffolds and organoids, with the aim of overcoming insufficient or nonuniform oxygen levels and nutrient supply.
Topics: Animals; Cell Differentiation; Cell Hypoxia; Embryonic Development; Embryonic Stem Cells; Humans; Morphogenesis; Organogenesis; Oxygen; Tissue Engineering
PubMed: 30273927
DOI: 10.1159/000493162 -
Development (Cambridge, England) Jan 2023The vertebrate eye is shaped as a cup, a conformation that optimizes vision and is acquired early in development through a process known as optic cup morphogenesis.... (Review)
Review
The vertebrate eye is shaped as a cup, a conformation that optimizes vision and is acquired early in development through a process known as optic cup morphogenesis. Imaging living, transparent teleost embryos and mammalian stem cell-derived organoids has provided insights into the rearrangements that eye progenitors undergo to adopt such a shape. Molecular and pharmacological interference with these rearrangements has further identified the underlying molecular machineries and the physical forces involved in this morphogenetic process. In this Review, we summarize the resulting scenarios and proposed models that include common and species-specific events. We further discuss how these studies and those in environmentally adapted blind species may shed light on human inborn eye malformations that result from failures in optic cup morphogenesis, including microphthalmia, anophthalmia and coloboma.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Eye; Embryonic Development; Coloboma; Organogenesis; Morphogenesis; Retina; Mammals
PubMed: 36714981
DOI: 10.1242/dev.200399 -
The International Journal of... 2020Branching morphogenesis, the creation of branched structures in the body, is a key feature of animal and plant development. It requires the coordinated interplay of... (Review)
Review
Branching morphogenesis, the creation of branched structures in the body, is a key feature of animal and plant development. It requires the coordinated interplay of multiple types of epithelial cells with the surrounding extracellular matrix. Cell migration, proliferation, and extracellular matrix dynamics have different roles in driving budding in different organs. This historical review article summarizes the first founding literature data concerning branching morphogenesis occurring in kidney, lung, vascular system, mammary glands and neurons.
Topics: Animals; Epidermal Growth Factor; Epithelium; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Integrins; Kidney; Lung; Models, Biological; Morphogenesis; Nervous System
PubMed: 33063834
DOI: 10.1387/ijdb.200020dr -
Development (Cambridge, England) Jul 2014Branching morphogenesis is the developmental program that builds the ramified epithelial trees of various organs, including the airways of the lung, the collecting ducts... (Review)
Review
Branching morphogenesis is the developmental program that builds the ramified epithelial trees of various organs, including the airways of the lung, the collecting ducts of the kidney, and the ducts of the mammary and salivary glands. Even though the final geometries of epithelial trees are distinct, the molecular signaling pathways that control branching morphogenesis appear to be conserved across organs and species. However, despite this molecular homology, recent advances in cell lineage analysis and real-time imaging have uncovered surprising differences in the mechanisms that build these diverse tissues. Here, we review these studies and discuss the cellular and physical mechanisms that can contribute to branching morphogenesis.
Topics: Animals; Body Patterning; Cells; Epithelium; Extracellular Matrix; Morphogenesis
PubMed: 25005470
DOI: 10.1242/dev.104794 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Sep 2018Smooth muscle is increasingly recognized as a key mechanical sculptor of epithelia during embryonic development. Smooth muscle is a mesenchymal tissue that surrounds the... (Review)
Review
Smooth muscle is increasingly recognized as a key mechanical sculptor of epithelia during embryonic development. Smooth muscle is a mesenchymal tissue that surrounds the epithelia of organs including the gut, blood vessels, lungs, bladder, ureter, uterus, oviduct and epididymis. Smooth muscle is stiffer than its adjacent epithelium and often serves its morphogenetic function by physically constraining the growth of a proliferating epithelial layer. This constraint leads to mechanical instabilities and epithelial morphogenesis through buckling. Smooth muscle stiffness alone, without smooth muscle cell shortening, seems to be sufficient to drive epithelial morphogenesis. Fully understanding the development of organs that use smooth muscle stiffness as a driver of morphogenesis requires investigating how smooth muscle develops, a key aspect of which is distinguishing smooth muscle-like tissues from one another and in culture. This necessitates a comprehensive appreciation of the genetic, anatomical and functional markers that are used to distinguish the different subtypes of smooth muscle (for example, vascular versus visceral) from similar cell types (including myofibroblasts and myoepithelial cells). Here, we review how smooth muscle acts as a mechanical driver of morphogenesis and discuss ways of identifying smooth muscle, which is critical for understanding these morphogenetic events.This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Mechanics of Development'.
Topics: Animals; Epithelial Cells; Humans; Morphogenesis; Muscle, Smooth
PubMed: 30249770
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0318 -
Current Opinion in Genetics &... Aug 2018During embryogenesis, tissues and organs are progressively shaped into their functional morphologies. While the information about tissue and organ shape is encoded... (Review)
Review
During embryogenesis, tissues and organs are progressively shaped into their functional morphologies. While the information about tissue and organ shape is encoded genetically, the sculpting of embryonic structures in the 3D space is ultimately a physical process. The control of physical quantities involved in tissue morphogenesis originates at cellular and subcellular scales, but it is their emergent behavior at supracellular scales that guides morphogenetic events. In this review, we highlight the physical quantities that can be spatiotemporally tuned at supracellular scales to sculpt tissues and organs during embryonic development of animal species, and connect them to the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling them.
Topics: Animals; Embryonic Development; Epithelium; Models, Biological; Morphogenesis; Physical Phenomena
PubMed: 30390520
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2018.09.002