Self-propagating wave drives morphogenesis of skull bones in vivo

Yiteng Dang, Johanna Lattner, Adrian A. Lahola-Chomiak, Diana Alves Afonso, Elke Ulbricht, Anna Taubenberger, Steffen Rulands and Jacqueline M. Tabler ()
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Yiteng Dang: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
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
Jacqueline M. Tabler: Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59164-9

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