Mechanical and molecular self-organization principles in chick gastrulation

Gastrulation is a critical event in vertebrate morphogenesis, characterized by coordinated multi-cellular movements. How spatio-temporal morphological structures emerge from cellular processes in a developing organism and vary across vertebrates is unclear. We derive a continuum model that couples tissue flows, stress-dependent myosin activity, and actomyosin cable orientation. Our model predicts gastrulation flows in normal and experimentally perturbed chick embryos, mimicking distinct vertebrate gastrulation modes as an active stress instability. I will conclude with our recent work on the mechanochemical pre-patterning mechanism generating the correct initial conditions at the onset of gastrulation. Experiments are from the K. Weijer lab at the University of Dundee.