Cavity oscillation drives pattern formation in early mammalian embryos
During the second cell fate in mouse embryos, the inner cell mass (ICM) segregates into the spatially distinct epiblast (EPI) and primitive endoderm (PrE) layers. The mechanism driving this pattern formation, however, remains unresolved. Here, we report that, concomitant with the segregation process of EPI/PrE precursors starting from mid-blastocyst, the blastocyst cavity begins to oscillate cyclically with rapid contraction yet slow expansion, triggering a phase transition in the ICM to a fluid-like state. This asymmetric oscillation of the blastocyst cavity facilitates EPI/PrE segregation by enhancing cell-cell contact fluctuations within the ICM and initiating convergent cell flows, which induce movement of these two cell types in opposite directions, wherein PrE precursors move toward the ICM-lumen interface, whereas EPI precursors move toward the trophectoderm. Last, we found that both PDGFRα expression and YAP nuclear accumulation in PrE precursors increase in response to blastocyst cavity oscillation. This study reveals the foundational role of physical oscillation in driving embryonic pattern formation during early mammalian embryonic development.
Authors
- Yanli Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4119-5233)
- Dongshi Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4433-3662)
- Xinbin Zhao
- Min Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1986-8438)
- Xu Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2398-9283)
- Dandan Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-2835-3149)
- Wanjuan Bu
- L. Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3009-5691)
- Zheng Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2105-4537)
- Jie Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0044-7307)
- Fanzhe Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9820-1841)
- Xiaoxiao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2895-1903)
- Dong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2508-3282)
- Bo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9998-9979)
- Lei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5478-5681)
- Jianwen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3936-937X)
- Jing Du (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1142-0433)
- Hangyu Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5582-3942)
- Xinxin Lv
- Yubo Fan
- Jing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4246-5597)
- Zheng Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7046-8117)
- Jialing Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0004-1438)
- Shuyu Guo
- Yue Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1777-8380)
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
- Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (CN)
- Institute of Mechanics (CN)
- Institute of Zoology (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
- Beihang University (CN)
- Guangzhou Medical University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Reports
- Published
- 2025-02-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115342
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.42
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China Stem Cell and Translational Research