Fig. 4: Spatial transcriptomics-based LR analysis demonstrates ephrin signaling is a molecular determinant of elevated interfacial tension at tissue compartment boundaries.

a, The 1D tension profile along the tissue compartment boundary for dataset 2 (top) and 1D normalized gene expression (Norm. GeX) profile for CM and FMH markers Bmp4 and Wnt5b for dataset 2 (bottom) (mean ± 95% confidence interval). b, Spatial gene expression maps for CM and FMH markers Bmp4 and Wnt5b. c, Absolute interaction likelihood of LR pairs for pair of cells at the boundary between CM and FMH in dataset 2, with ligands expressed in CM cells and receptors in FMH cells. The insert displays the top 20 LR pairs with the highest absolute interaction likelihood. d, GO enrichment term analysis for the top 100 LR pairs for pair of cells at the boundary between CM and FMH in dataset 2, with ligands expressed in CM cells and receptors in FMH cells. GO term are ranked according to P value by hypergeometric test and gene count. e, The same as c but for ligands expressed in FMH cells and receptors in CM cells. f, The same as d but for ligands expressed in FMH cells and receptors in CM cells. g, Violin plots of junction interaction potentials for some top-ranked LR pairs (Wnt5a–Fzd5, Efna1–Epha5 and Efnb1–Ephb1). h, Spatial gene expression maps for the same selected LR pairs (top) and 1D gene expression profiles along the tissue compartments boundary for the same LR pairs (bottom) (mean ± 95% confidence interval).