A developmental biologist's guide to mechanics
Abstract
Developmental biology seeks to explain how living systems self-organize into functional, robust forms. While molecular and genetic approaches have revealed how biological information is encoded and processed, they often do not explain how this information is translated into physical shape. Here, we introduce the mechanical principles underlying tissue morphogenesis, aimed at developmental biologists with little background in physics. This Primer is structured around three core pillars. First, force generation describes how active and passive processes within cells and tissues drive deformation and motion. Second, constitutive behavior defines how living matter responds to these forces, spanning elastic, viscous and plastic regimes. Third, geometry and boundary constraints set the spatial constraints that shape mechanical interactions at the tissue and organismal levels. Together, these elements provide a framework for understanding how form emerges from the interplay between forces, material properties and geometry. We illustrate key examples across developmental processes and highlight recent advances and future challenges, integrating mechanical and molecular perspectives to guide the study of morphogenesis.
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BibTeX
@article{cao2026developmental,
title = {{A developmental biologist's guide to mechanics}},
author = {Jialing Cao and Alessandro Chiappori and Sylvain Landiech and Raphaël Clément and Pierre-François Lenne},
journal = {Development (Cambridge, England)},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1242/dev.205785},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05788163v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A developmental biologist's guide to mechanics
AU - Jialing Cao
AU - Alessandro Chiappori
AU - Sylvain Landiech
AU - Raphaël Clément
AU - Pierre-François Lenne
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/15
JO - Development (Cambridge, England)
DO - 10.1242/dev.205785
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05788163v1
AB - Developmental biology seeks to explain how living systems self-organize into functional, robust forms. While molecular and genetic approaches have revealed how biological information is encoded and processed, they often do not explain how this information is translated into physical shape. Here, we introduce the mechanical principles underlying tissue morphogenesis, aimed at developmental biologists with little background in physics. This Primer is structured around three core pillars. First, force generation describes how active and passive processes within cells and tissues drive deformation and motion. Second, constitutive behavior defines how living matter responds to these forces, spanning elastic, viscous and plastic regimes. Third, geometry and boundary constraints set the spatial constraints that shape mechanical interactions at the tissue and organismal levels. Together, these elements provide a framework for understanding how form emerges from the interplay between forces, material properties and geometry. We illustrate key examples across developmental processes and highlight recent advances and future challenges, integrating mechanical and molecular perspectives to guide the study of morphogenesis.
SN - 0950-1991
SN - 1477-9129
ER -