What is it about?

This study looks at how fruit fly larval epithelial cells (LECs) generate pulsed contractions during development. These contractions are driven by a network of proteins—actin and myosin—inside the cells. Using live imaging and computer modelling, the researchers examined how the shape and internal structure (polarity) of the cells influence these rhythmic contractions. They built a physical model, called an active elastomer model, that simulates actomyosin behaviour within real cell shapes. The model successfully recreated the patterns of contraction seen in live cells and showed that factors like cell geometry and internal organisation are key to this behaviour. The study also tested how the system responds to genetic changes, such as reducing myosin activity, and the model accurately predicted the outcomes.

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Why is it important?

Cell contractions play a vital role in shaping tissues during development. This study supports the idea that pulsed contractions can emerge naturally from the physical properties of the cell, without needing complex biochemical signalling. That insight suggests that cell shape and internal organisation are enough to drive complex behaviour. The model developed here is valuable because it accurately predicts how cells behave, even under genetic changes. This helps us better understand not just normal development but also what might go wrong in diseases involving faulty cell mechanics, like cancer or birth defects. The approach also provides a useful tool for studying similar processes in other organisms.

Perspectives

In this study, we focused on pulsed contractions that occur in epithelial cells of the fruit fly during the formation of the adult abdomen. Using advanced live imaging, we tracked how actin and myosin move and concentrate over time inside individual cells. We then developed a physics-based computer model that mimics the behaviour of this contractile network within realistic cell shapes. This work demonstrates that the geometry and internal organisation of cells play a key role in shaping rhythmic force generation during development. These findings help explain how complex patterns of cellular behaviour can arise from simple physical principles and may apply broadly to similar processes in other organisms.

Rastko Sknepnek
University of Dundee

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This page is a summary of: An active matter model captures spatial dynamics of actomyosin oscillations in larval epithelial cells during Drosophila morphogenesis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2503955123.
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