Mechanical deformations associated with embryonic morphogenetic movements have been suggested to actively participate in the signaling cascades regulating developmental gene expression. Here we develop an appropriate experimental approach to ascertain the existence and the physiological relevance of this phenomenon. By combining the use of magnetic tweezers with in vivo laser ablation, we locally control physiologically relevant deformations in wild-type Drosophila embryonic tissues. We demonstrate that the deformations caused by germ band extension upregulate Twist expression in the stomodeal primordium. We find that stomodeal compression triggers Src42A-dependent nuclear translocation of Armadillo/beta-catenin, which is required for Twist mechanical induction in the stomodeum. Finally, stomodeal-specific RNAi-mediated silencing of Twist during compression impairs the differentiation of midgut cells, resulting in larval lethality. These experiments show that mechanically induced Twist upregulation in stomodeal cells is necessary for subsequent midgut differentiation.

During Drosophila gastrulation, two waves of constriction occur in the apical ventral cells, leading to mesoderm invagination. The first constriction wave is a stochastic process mediated by the constriction of 40% of randomly positioned mesodermal cells and is controlled by the transcription factor Snail. The second constriction wave immediately follows and involves the other 60% of the mesodermal cells. The second wave is controlled by the transcription factor Twist and requires the secreted protein Fog. Complete mesoderm invagination requires redistribution of the motor protein Myosin II to the apical side of the constricting cells. We show that apical redistribution of Myosin II and mesoderm invagination, both of which are impaired in snail homozygous mutants that are defective in both constriction waves, are rescued by local mechanical deformation of the mesoderm with a micromanipulated needle. Mechanical deformation appears to promote Fog-dependent signaling by inhibiting Fog endocytosis. We propose that the mechanical tissue deformation that occurs during the Snail-dependent stochastic phase is necessary for the Fog-dependent signaling that mediates the second collective constriction wave.

The mechanical aspects of embryonic morphogenesis have been widely analysed by numerical simulations of invagination in sea urchins and Drosophila gastrulation. Finite element models, which describe the tissue as a continuous medium, lead to the global invagination morphogenesis observed in vivo. Here we develop a simulation of multicellular embryo invagination that allows access to both cellular and multicellular mechanical behaviours of the embryo. In this model, the tissue is composed of adhesive individual cells, in which shape change dynamics is governed by internal acto-myosin forces and the hydrodynamic flow associated with membrane movements. We investigated the minimal structural and force elements sufficient to phenocopy mesoderm invagination. The minimal structures are cell membranes characterized by an acto-myosin cortical tension and connected by apical and basal junctions and an acto-myosin contractile ring connected to the apical junctions. An increase in the apical-cortical surface tension is the only control parameter change required to phenocopy most known multicellular and cellular shape changes of Drosophila gastrulation. Specifically, behaviours observed in vivo, including apical junction movements at the onset of gastrulation, cell elongation and subsequent shortening during invagination, and the development of a dorso-ventral gradient of thickness of the embryo, are predicted by this model as passive mechanical consequences of the genetically controlled increase in the apical surface tension in invaginating mesoderm cells, thus demonstrating the accurate description of structures at both global and single cell scales.