Organ-Specific Branching Morphogenesis

Christine Lang; Lisa Conrad; Dagmar Iber

doi:10.3389/fcell.2021.671402

Organ-Specific Branching Morphogenesis

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Jun 7:9:671402. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.671402. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Christine Lang^{1

2}, Lisa Conrad^{1

2}, Dagmar Iber^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biosystems, Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland.
² Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

A common developmental process, called branching morphogenesis, generates the epithelial trees in a variety of organs, including the lungs, kidneys, and glands. How branching morphogenesis can create epithelial architectures of very different shapes and functions remains elusive. In this review, we compare branching morphogenesis and its regulation in lungs and kidneys and discuss the role of signaling pathways, the mesenchyme, the extracellular matrix, and the cytoskeleton as potential organ-specific determinants of branch position, orientation, and shape. Identifying the determinants of branch and organ shape and their adaptation in different organs may reveal how a highly conserved developmental process can be adapted to different structural and functional frameworks and should provide important insights into epithelial morphogenesis and developmental disorders.

Keywords: branch angle; branch distance; branch shape; branching morphogenesis; kidney; lung; tissue mechanics; turing pattern.

Publication types

Review