Active Mechanics in Cellular Morphogenesis

Active mechanics in cellular morphogenesis encompasses the study of how cells harness internally generated forces to sculpt their shape, organise subcellular components and drive large-scale tissue deformations. Central to this field is the actomyosin cortex, a thin network of actin filaments and myosin motors beneath the plasma membrane, which generates contractile stresses and undergoes directed cortical flows. These flows interact with biochemical signals to produce mechanochemical feedback loops that regulate tissue patterning, cell division and developmental processes. By converting chemical energy into mechanical work, active cellular structures can self-organise, form pulsatile contractions or propagate waves of contractility, thereby shaping embryos, organoids and engineered cell assemblies. Advances in theory and experiment have revealed principles of active surface mechanics, excitable dynamics in tissues and the interplay of mechanical forces with morphogen distributions. This integrative perspective has not only deepened our understanding of fundamental biological design but also inspired biomimetic materials that replicate living surfaces and dynamic tissue architectures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have elucidated how frictional coupling between the cortex and underlying cytoplasmic components drives cell-shape transitions. Work on fertilised ascidian oocytes has shown that vegetal-directed actomyosin flows compress mitochondria-rich cytoplasm, generating buckles that establish the contraction pole and spatial mRNA localisation. A theoretical framework for excitable tissues has demonstrated that simple mechanical feedback—activation of contractility upon stretch followed by turnover of active elements—can account for quiescent periods, long-range pulse propagation and traveling waves in epithelial sheets. Foundational insights into cortical contractility have emerged from investigations of surface contraction waves in starfish oocytes, revealing how spatiotemporal gradients of cell-cycle regulators integrate with RhoA-driven myosin activity to coordinate wave speed, directionality and embryonic axis formation.

Active Mechanics in Cellular Morphogenesis publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in active mechanics in cellular morphogenesis across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Actomyosin cortex: A thin, contractile network of actin filaments and myosin motors underlying the plasma membrane, responsible for generating cortical tension and flows.

Cortical flow: Directed movement of the actomyosin network along the cell surface, driven by spatial gradients in contractile activity.

Mechanochemical feedback: Interactions whereby mechanical forces influence chemical signalling pathways and vice versa, leading to self-organised dynamics.

Active surface: A deformable boundary layer of cells or materials that converts chemical energy into mechanical work, sustaining motion or shape changes.

Excitable dynamics: Behaviour of a system that responds to stimuli with transient activation followed by a refractory period, allowing pulse or wave propagation.

References

1. Bio-enabled Engineering of Multifunctional “Living” Surfaces. ACS Nano (2023).
2. Friction forces determine cytoplasmic reorganization and shape changes of ascidian oocytes upon fertilization. Nature Physics (2024).
3. Excitable dynamics driven by mechanical feedback in biological tissues. Communications Physics (2024).
4. Forceful patterning: theoretical principles of mechanochemical pattern formation. EMBO Reports (2023).
5. A cdk1 gradient guides surface contraction waves in oocytes. Nature Communications (2017).
6. Pulsatile contractions and pattern formation in excitable actomyosin cortex. PLOS Computational Biology (2022).
7. Interacting active surfaces: A model for three-dimensional cell aggregates. PLOS Computational Biology (2022).