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Self-propagating wave drives morphogenesis of skull bones in vivo

Author

Listed:
  • Yiteng Dang

    (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
    Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
    Center for Systems Biology)

  • Johanna Lattner

    (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)

  • Adrian A. Lahola-Chomiak

    (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)

  • Diana Alves Afonso

    (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)

  • Elke Ulbricht

    (Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC))

  • Anna Taubenberger

    (Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC))

  • Steffen Rulands

    (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
    Center for Systems Biology
    Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)

  • Jacqueline M. Tabler

    (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics)

Abstract

Cellular motion is a key feature of tissue morphogenesis and is often driven by migration. However, migration need not explain cell motion in contexts where there is little free space or no obvious substrate, such as those found during organogenesis of mesenchymal organs including the embryonic skull. Through ex vivo imaging, biophysical modeling, and perturbation experiments, we find that mechanical feedback between cell fate and stiffness drives bone expansion and controls bone size in vivo. This mechanical feedback system is sufficient to propagate a wave of differentiation that establishes a collagen gradient which we find sufficient to describe patterns of osteoblast motion. Our work provides a mechanism for coordinated motion that may not rely upon cell migration but on emergent properties of the mesenchymal collective. Identification of such alternative mechanisms of mechanochemical coupling between differentiation and morphogenesis will help in understanding how directed cellular motility arises in complex environments with inhomogeneous material properties.

Suggested Citation

  • Yiteng Dang & Johanna Lattner & Adrian A. Lahola-Chomiak & Diana Alves Afonso & Elke Ulbricht & Anna Taubenberger & Steffen Rulands & Jacqueline M. Tabler, 2025. "Self-propagating wave drives morphogenesis of skull bones in vivo," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59164-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59164-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carlos Carmona-Fontaine & Helen K. Matthews & Sei Kuriyama & Mauricio Moreno & Graham A. Dunn & Maddy Parsons & Claudio D. Stern & Roberto Mayor, 2008. "Contact inhibition of locomotion in vivo controls neural crest directional migration," Nature, Nature, vol. 456(7224), pages 957-961, December.
    2. Adam Shellard & Roberto Mayor, 2021. "Collective durotaxis along a self-generated stiffness gradient in vivo," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7890), pages 690-694, December.
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