Jellyfish shape as a mechanical balance

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 122(13)

Published: March 17, 2025

Why are jellyfish round? Animals get their shapes as they develop. After development, however, how animals keep is less understood. Moon jellies respond to perturbations body shape, such being halved or quartered, by reorganizing existing parts and regaining radial symmetry, i.e., round shape. The robust recovery of symmetry led us investigate, in this study, encoded. We tested perturbing shape grafting sections varying configurations. Testing these confirms the moon jellies’ ability recover from many perturbations. However, response some perturbations, can also adopt other stable shapes, oval, quadrilateral, triangular. Thus, although characterized a radially symmetrical plan, lead them recovering bilateral shapes. Employing mathematical modeling, we find that interactions between forces muscle contractions viscoelastic tissues explain different A achieved when mechanical locally balanced, regardless symmetry. Consistent with model prediction outcome balancing forces, modulating parameter system, contraction rate, produce shape-shifting. Maintaining dynamically balance may enable readily adapt changing physical environments.

Language: Английский

Zebrafish tailfin as an in vivo model for capturing tissue-scale cell dynamics

Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology, Journal Year: 2024, Volume and Issue: 166, P. 29 - 35

Published: Dec. 25, 2024

Language: Английский