Impact of Cell Dynamics and Tissue Rheology on the Development of Zebrafish Left-right Organizer*

How do the material properties of a tissue impact biological processes such as embryonic development? In a developing embryo, individual cells undergo programmed shape changes to generate emergent macroscopic patterns that are essential for building functional organs, but the mechanisms involved in these precise changes remain less clear. Kupffer’s vesicle (KV), a transient organ that is responsible for specifying the left-right body axis of the zebrafish embryo, provides an excellent system to identify the factors that contribute to organogenesis and left-right embryo patterning. Although previous work has implicated intercellular tensions and extracellular matrix in this patterning, we conjecture that the dynamic motion of the KV through the tailbud may also play a role. Using a self-propelled Voronoi model, which incorporates both tissue rheology and cell motility, we investigate how the mechanical properties of highly dynamic cells surrounding the KV influence cell shape changes in the KV and consequently the left-right asymmetries in the embryo.