From: Hohenheim University, Germany

Will give a seminar entitled:

Beyond the Genetic Program: Mechanical Feedback in the Evolution of Gastrulation

Morphogenesis arises from the coordinated dynamics of genetic, cellular, and mechanical systems. During gastrulation, gene regulatory networks specify cell fates and orchestrate the forces that shape tissue architecture. Yet how the structure of these networks and their coupling to mechanical feedback evolve to generate new morphogenetic strategies remains unclear. Using comparative in toto live imaging across a phylogenetically broad panel of fly species, we quantitatively link regulatory architecture, gene innovation, and tissue mechanics during the establishment of the embryonic body plan. Across this comparative framework, we find that feedback from tissue mechanics can bias regulatory trajectories, suggesting that internal physical constraints act as self-organizing drivers of evolutionary innovation. These findings invite a view of the early embryo as a system in which genetics and mechanics are tightly coupled, a relationship that may be central to the evolvability of animal form.

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