Mingxing Lei, Hans I-Chen Harn, Qiwei Li, Jingwei Jiang, Wang Wu, Wei Zhou, Tin-Xin Jiang, Mengyue Wang, Jinwei Zhang, Yung-Chih Lai, Wen-Tau Juan, Randall Bruce Widelitz, Li Yang, Zhong-Ze Gu, Cheng-Ming Chuong
Stem cells in organoids self-organize into tissue patterns with unknown mechanisms. Here, we use skin organoids to analyze this process. Cell behavior videos show that the morphological transformation from multiple spheroidal units with morphogenesis competence (CMU) to planar skin is characterized by two abrupt cell motility-increasing events before calming down. The self-organizing processes are controlled by a morphogenetic module composed of molecular sensors, modulators, and executers. Increasing dermal stiffness provides the initial driving force (driver) which activates Yap1 (sensor) in epidermal cysts...
September 5, 2023: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America