TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal variability and cell mechanics control robustness in mammalian embryogenesis
AU - Fabrèges, Dimitri
AU - Corominas-Murtra, Bernat
AU - Moghe, Prachiti
AU - Kickuth, Alison
AU - Ichikawa, Takafumi
AU - Iwatani, Chizuru
AU - Tsukiyama, Tomoyuki
AU - Daniel, Nathalie
AU - Gering, Julie
AU - Stokkermans, Anniek
AU - Wolny, Adrian
AU - Kreshuk, Anna
AU - Duranthon, Véronique
AU - Uhlmann, Virginie
AU - Hannezo, Edouard
AU - Hiiragi, Takashi
PY - 2024/10/11
Y1 - 2024/10/11
N2 - How living systems achieve precision in form and function despite their intrinsic stochasticity is a fundamental yet ongoing question in biology. We generated morphomaps of preimplantation embryogenesis in mouse, rabbit, and monkey embryos, and these morphomaps revealed that although blastomere divisions desynchronized passively, 8-cell embryos converged toward robust three-dimensional shapes. Using topological analysis and genetic perturbations, we found that embryos progressively changed their cellular connectivity to a preferred topology, which could be predicted by a physical model in which actomyosin contractility and noise facilitate topological transitions, lowering surface energy. This mechanism favored regular embryo packing and promoted a higher number of inner cells in the 16-cell embryo. Synchronized division reduced embryo packing and generated substantially more misallocated cells and fewer inner-cell-mass cells. These findings suggest that stochasticity in division timing contributes to robust patterning.
AB - How living systems achieve precision in form and function despite their intrinsic stochasticity is a fundamental yet ongoing question in biology. We generated morphomaps of preimplantation embryogenesis in mouse, rabbit, and monkey embryos, and these morphomaps revealed that although blastomere divisions desynchronized passively, 8-cell embryos converged toward robust three-dimensional shapes. Using topological analysis and genetic perturbations, we found that embryos progressively changed their cellular connectivity to a preferred topology, which could be predicted by a physical model in which actomyosin contractility and noise facilitate topological transitions, lowering surface energy. This mechanism favored regular embryo packing and promoted a higher number of inner cells in the 16-cell embryo. Synchronized division reduced embryo packing and generated substantially more misallocated cells and fewer inner-cell-mass cells. These findings suggest that stochasticity in division timing contributes to robust patterning.
KW - Animals
KW - Mice
KW - Rabbits
KW - Actomyosin/metabolism
KW - Blastocyst/physiology
KW - Blastomeres/cytology
KW - Cell Division
KW - Embryo, Mammalian/cytology
KW - Embryonic Development
KW - Stochastic Processes
U2 - 10.1126/science.adh1145
DO - 10.1126/science.adh1145
M3 - Article
C2 - 39388574
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 386
SP - eadh1145
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6718
ER -