Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 12, 2025
06:33
Probing the Roles of Physical Forces in Early Chick Embryonic Morphogenesis
Published on: June 5, 2018
7.5K
Rigidity percolation uncovers a structural basis for embryonic tissue phase transitions.
Nicoletta I Petridou1, Bernat Corominas-Murtra1, Carl-Philipp Heisenberg1
1Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
Cell
|March 17, 2021
Summary
Embryonic tissues undergo rigidity phase transitions (PTs) driven by cell connectivity changes. Rigidity percolation theory predicts these material property shifts in zebrafish development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Biology
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Embryo morphogenesis involves dynamic changes in tissue material properties.
- These changes have been proposed to occur via phase transitions (PTs).
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish rigidity percolation as a theoretical framework for predicting material/structural PTs in embryonic tissues.
- To investigate the role of cell connectivity in driving these PTs.
Main Methods:
- Applied percolation theory combined with direct monitoring of tissue rheology and cell contact mechanics.
- Utilized zebrafish blastoderm as an experimental model.
- Quantitatively predicted and experimentally verified hallmarks of PTs.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that the zebrafish blastoderm undergoes a rigidity PT due to a critical reduction in adhesion-dependent cell connectivity.
- Verified PT hallmarks, including power-law exponents and discontinuities in macroscopic observables.
- Showed that meta-synchronous cell divisions lead to uniform changes in cell connectivity, driving a uniform PT.
Conclusions:
- Rigidity percolation provides a robust framework for understanding material/structural PTs in embryonic tissues.
- Cell connectivity dynamics are crucial for regulating tissue material properties during development.
- Revealed the structural basis of material PTs in an organismal context.
Keywords:
cell adhesioncell mechanicscell-contact networkembryo morphogenesisphase transitionrigidity percolationtissue rheologyMore Related Videos
08:25Imaging and Analysis of Tissue Orientation and Growth Dynamics in the Developing Drosophila Epithelia During Pupal Stages
Published on: June 2, 2020
9.8K
10:04Patterning the Geometry of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Colonies on Compliant Substrates to Control Tissue-Level Mechanics
Published on: September 28, 2019
8.6K
Related Concept Videos
01:20Embryonic Connective Tissues
6.0K
During early development, the embryo forms two types of connective tissues— the mesenchyme and mucoid connective tissue.
The mesenchyme is the first connective tissue that emerges in the developing embryo. It consists of loosely arranged multipotent mesenchymal cells and reticular fibers in the extracellular matrix. This loose arrangement allows easy migration of cells, which is essential for germ layer positioning, patterning, and organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
The mesenchyme is the first connective tissue that emerges in the developing embryo. It consists of loosely arranged multipotent mesenchymal cells and reticular fibers in the extracellular matrix. This loose arrangement allows easy migration of cells, which is essential for germ layer positioning, patterning, and organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
6.0K
01:56Gastrulation
63.3K
Gastrulation establishes the three primary tissues of an embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. This developmental process relies on a series of intricate cellular movements, which in humans transforms a flat, “bilaminar disc” composed of two cell sheets into a three-tiered structure. In the resulting embryo, the endoderm serves as the bottom layer, and stacked directly above it is the intermediate mesoderm, and then the uppermost ectoderm. Respectively, these tissue strata...
63.3K
02:19Morphogenesis
29.3K
Plant morphogenesis—the development of a plant’s form and structure—involves several overlapping developmental processes, including growth and cell differentiation. Precursor cells differentiate into specific cell types, which are organized into the tissues and organ systems that make up the functional plant.
29.3K
01:10Zygotic Development And Stem Cell Formation
6.0K
The development of all multicellular organisms starts with the fusion of haploid cells called sperm and egg to form a diploid zygote. A zygote is a totipotent cell that can develop into a complete organism. The zygote undergoes cell division or cleavage to form an 8-cell mass. Until this stage, the cells are spherical, loosely attached, and remain totipotent. Totipotent cells are capable of developing both the embryonic and the extraembryonic tissues. However, as they continue to divide, they...
6.0K
01:33Cleavage and Blastulation
48.5K
After a large-single-celled zygote is produced via fertilization, the process of cleavage occurs while zygotes travel through the uterine tube. Cleavage is a mitotic cell division that does not result in growth. With each round of successive cell division, daughter cells get increasingly smaller.
48.5K
01:51Determination
20.1K
During embryogenesis, cells become progressively committed to different fates through a two-step process: specification followed by determination. Specification is demonstrated by removing a segment of an early embryo, “neutrally” culturing the tissue in vitro—for example, in a petri dish with simple medium—and then observing the derivatives. If the cultured region gives rise to cell types that it would normally generate in the embryo, this means that it is specified. In...
20.1K