Abstract

Sir J. Gurdon has claimed that embryonic induction “is probably the single most important mechanism in vertebrate development, leading to differences between cells and the organization of cells into tissues and organs” (1987). Although embryonic induction was discovered over a hundred years ago (Spemann and Mangold, 1924), its molecular basis has only been elucidated in the last three decades with the identification of many inducers. However, this remarkable achievement—identifying the inductive molecules—addresses only half of the problem. Crucially, embryonic induction also requires tissues to be responsive to the inductive signals they receive (a concept known as embryonic competence); a topic that has been widely neglected. Thus far, researchers have focused on the molecules that may control competence, while the role of mechanics as a potential regulator of embryonic competence has remained unexplored. We demonstrated that the neural crest inductive signal (Wnt) is modulated by the mechanotransducer Yes Associated Protein (YAP), illustrating how mechanical and biochemical cues interplay to control embryonic competence. To demonstrate the universality of our findings, we showed that the same mechanism operates in human-induced neural crest cells, in addition to Xenopus embryos.

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