Spontaneous symmetry breaking and pattern formation of organoids

TL;DR

This paper reviews how organoids spontaneously break symmetry and form patterns without external cues, exploring underlying mechanisms and recent theoretical advances to guide experimental control of self-organization.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of spontaneous symmetry breaking in organoids and discusses new theoretical models beyond traditional Turing mechanisms.

Findings

Spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs in organoids without external cues.

Interacting diffusible species are hypothesized to drive pattern formation.

Recent theories offer new directions for understanding organoid self-organization.

Abstract

Recent 3D organ reconstitution studies show that a group of stem cells can establish a body axis and acquire different fates in a spatially organized manner. How such symmetry breaking happens in the absence of external spatial cues, and how developmental circuits are built to permit this is largely unknown. Here, we review spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomena in organoids, and hypothesize underlying patterning mechanisms that involve interacting diffusible species. Recent theoretical advances offer new directions beyond the prototypical Turing model. Experiments guided by theory will allow us to predict and control organoid self-organization.