[{"PlanS_conform":"1","oa_version":"Published Version","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Early embryo geometry is one of the most invariant species-specific traits, yet its role in ensuring developmental reproducibility and robustness remains underexplored. Here we show that in zebrafish, the geometry of the fertilized egg—specifically its curvature and volume—serves as a critical initial condition triggering a cascade of events that influence development. The embryo geometry guides patterned asymmetric cell divisions in the blastoderm, generating radial gradients of cell volume and nucleocytoplasmic ratio. These gradients generate mitotic phase waves, with the nucleocytoplasmic ratio determining individual cell cycle periods independently of other cells. We demonstrate that reducing cell autonomy reshapes these waves, emphasizing the instructive role of geometry-derived volume patterns in setting the intrinsic period of the cell cycle oscillator. In addition to organizing cell cycles, early embryo geometry spatially patterns zygotic genome activation at the midblastula transition, a key step in establishing embryonic autonomy. Disrupting the embryo shape alters the zygotic genome activation pattern and causes ectopic germ layer specification, underscoring the developmental significance of geometry. Together, our findings reveal a symmetry-breaking function of early embryo geometry in coordinating cell cycle and transcriptional patterning."}],"file_date_updated":"2026-01-21T08:21:11Z","volume":22,"publication":"Nature Physics","day":"05","doi":"10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1745-2481"],"issn":["1745-2473"],"issnl":[" 1745-2473"]},"article_processing_charge":"Yes (via OA deal)","has_accepted_license":"1","quality_controlled":"1","month":"01","project":[{"grant_number":"754411","call_identifier":"H2020","name":"ISTplus - Postdoctoral Fellowships","_id":"260C2330-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"name":"IST-BRIDGE: International postdoctoral program","_id":"fc2ed2f7-9c52-11eb-aca3-c01059dda49c","grant_number":"101034413","call_identifier":"H2020"},{"_id":"917c023a-16d5-11f0-9cad-eb5cafc52090","name":"Cytoplasmic self-organization into cell-like compartments as a common guiding principle in early animal development"}],"publication_status":"published","user_id":"ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd","date_published":"2026-01-05T00:00:00Z","acknowledgement":"We thank N. Petridou (EMBL) for sharing results before publication. N.M. was supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Actions ISTplus grant agreement number 754411. Y.I.L. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 101034413. The research was supported by funding to C.-P.H. from the NOMIS Foundation, Project ID 1.844. We would like to thank past and present members of the Heisenberg and Hannezo groups for discussions, particularly S. Shamipour, V. Doddihal, M. Jovic, N. Hino, F. N. Arslan, R. Kobylinska and C. Camelo for feedback on the draft manuscript. This research was supported by the Scientific Service Units (SSU) of Institute of Science and Technology Austria through resources provided by the Aquatics Facility, Imaging & Optics Facility (IOF), Scientific Computing (SciComp) facility and Lab Support Facility (LSF). Open access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria).","oaworkid":1,"status":"public","related_material":{"link":[{"url":"https://ista.ac.at/en/news/geometry-shapes-life/","relation":"research_data","description":"News on ISTA website"}]},"type":"journal_article","file":[{"access_level":"open_access","file_size":7335694,"checksum":"0ab7ac2fbcb61a364dba57152db64ed7","file_id":"21026","file_name":"2026_NaturePhysics_Mishra.pdf","date_updated":"2026-01-21T08:21:11Z","creator":"dernst","date_created":"2026-01-21T08:21:11Z","content_type":"application/pdf","relation":"main_file","success":1}],"year":"2026","_id":"21015","scopus_import":"1","OA_place":"publisher","title":"Geometry-driven asymmetric cell divisions pattern cell cycles and zygotic genome activation in the zebrafish embryo","OA_type":"hybrid","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1","citation":{"ieee":"N. Mishra, Y. I. Li, E. B. Hannezo, and C.-P. J. Heisenberg, “Geometry-driven asymmetric cell divisions pattern cell cycles and zygotic genome activation in the zebrafish embryo,” <i>Nature Physics</i>, vol. 22. Springer Nature, pp. 139–150, 2026.","ista":"Mishra N, Li YI, Hannezo EB, Heisenberg C-PJ. 2026. Geometry-driven asymmetric cell divisions pattern cell cycles and zygotic genome activation in the zebrafish embryo. Nature Physics. 22, 139–150.","ama":"Mishra N, Li YI, Hannezo EB, Heisenberg C-PJ. Geometry-driven asymmetric cell divisions pattern cell cycles and zygotic genome activation in the zebrafish embryo. <i>Nature Physics</i>. 2026;22:139-150. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1\">10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1</a>","apa":"Mishra, N., Li, Y. I., Hannezo, E. B., &#38; Heisenberg, C.-P. J. (2026). Geometry-driven asymmetric cell divisions pattern cell cycles and zygotic genome activation in the zebrafish embryo. <i>Nature Physics</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1</a>","short":"N. Mishra, Y.I. Li, E.B. Hannezo, C.-P.J. Heisenberg, Nature Physics 22 (2026) 139–150.","chicago":"Mishra, Nikhil, Yuting I Li, Edouard B Hannezo, and Carl-Philipp J Heisenberg. “Geometry-Driven Asymmetric Cell Divisions Pattern Cell Cycles and Zygotic Genome Activation in the Zebrafish Embryo.” <i>Nature Physics</i>. Springer Nature, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1</a>.","mla":"Mishra, Nikhil, et al. “Geometry-Driven Asymmetric Cell Divisions Pattern Cell Cycles and Zygotic Genome Activation in the Zebrafish Embryo.” <i>Nature Physics</i>, vol. 22, Springer Nature, 2026, pp. 139–50, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1\">10.1038/s41567-025-03122-1</a>."},"page":"139-150","corr_author":"1","external_id":{"oaworkid":["W7118187193"]},"intvolume":"        22","article_type":"original","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode"},"publisher":"Springer Nature","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"PreCl"},{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"ScienComp"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}],"date_created":"2026-01-20T10:12:19Z","date_updated":"2026-04-28T12:55:30Z","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"department":[{"_id":"EdHa"},{"_id":"CaHe"}],"ddc":["570"],"author":[{"id":"C4D70E82-1081-11EA-B3ED-9A4C3DDC885E","orcid":"0000-0002-6425-5788","full_name":"Mishra, Nikhil","first_name":"Nikhil","last_name":"Mishra"},{"id":"ee7a5ca8-8b71-11ed-b662-b3341c05b7eb","full_name":"Li, Yuting I","first_name":"Yuting I","last_name":"Li"},{"last_name":"Hannezo","orcid":"0000-0001-6005-1561","first_name":"Edouard B","full_name":"Hannezo, Edouard B","id":"3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"last_name":"Heisenberg","id":"39427864-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-0912-4566","full_name":"Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp J","first_name":"Carl-Philipp J"}],"oa":1,"ec_funded":1},{"department":[{"_id":"EdHa"},{"_id":"JePa"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_updated":"2026-05-20T08:58:06Z","ddc":["530"],"author":[{"last_name":"Martinet","id":"b37485a8-d343-11eb-a0e9-df8c484ef8ab","full_name":"Martinet, Quentin","first_name":"Quentin","orcid":"0000-0002-2916-6632"},{"id":"ee7a5ca8-8b71-11ed-b662-b3341c05b7eb","full_name":"Li, Yuting I","first_name":"Yuting I","last_name":"Li"},{"first_name":"A.","full_name":"Aubret, A.","last_name":"Aubret"},{"id":"3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0001-6005-1561","full_name":"Hannezo, Edouard B","first_name":"Edouard B","last_name":"Hannezo"},{"last_name":"Palacci","id":"8fb92548-2b22-11eb-b7c1-a3f0d08d7c7d","orcid":"0000-0002-7253-9465","full_name":"Palacci, Jérémie A","first_name":"Jérémie A"}],"oa":1,"arxiv":1,"ec_funded":1,"fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh","citation":{"ama":"Martinet Q, Li YI, Aubret A, Hannezo EB, Palacci JA. Emergent dynamics of active elastic microbeams. <i>Physical Review X</i>. 2025;15(4). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh\">10.1103/rjk2-q2wh</a>","apa":"Martinet, Q., Li, Y. I., Aubret, A., Hannezo, E. B., &#38; Palacci, J. A. (2025). Emergent dynamics of active elastic microbeams. <i>Physical Review X</i>. American Physical Society. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh\">https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh</a>","ista":"Martinet Q, Li YI, Aubret A, Hannezo EB, Palacci JA. 2025. Emergent dynamics of active elastic microbeams. Physical Review X. 15(4), 041017.","ieee":"Q. Martinet, Y. I. Li, A. Aubret, E. B. Hannezo, and J. A. Palacci, “Emergent dynamics of active elastic microbeams,” <i>Physical Review X</i>, vol. 15, no. 4. American Physical Society, 2025.","mla":"Martinet, Quentin, et al. “Emergent Dynamics of Active Elastic Microbeams.” <i>Physical Review X</i>, vol. 15, no. 4, 041017, American Physical Society, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh\">10.1103/rjk2-q2wh</a>.","chicago":"Martinet, Quentin, Yuting I Li, A. Aubret, Edouard B Hannezo, and Jérémie A Palacci. “Emergent Dynamics of Active Elastic Microbeams.” <i>Physical Review X</i>. American Physical Society, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh\">https://doi.org/10.1103/rjk2-q2wh</a>.","short":"Q. Martinet, Y.I. Li, A. Aubret, E.B. Hannezo, J.A. Palacci, Physical Review X 15 (2025)."},"external_id":{"arxiv":["2508.20642"]},"corr_author":"1","intvolume":"        15","article_type":"original","tmp":{"short":"CC BY (4.0)","image":"/images/cc_by.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode"},"publisher":"American Physical Society","DOAJ_listed":"1","date_created":"2025-11-30T23:02:08Z","acknowledgement":"The authors thank Andela Saric, Christoph Zechner, and Paul Robin for helpful discussions. J. P. acknowledges support by ERC grant (VULCAN, 101086998) and U.S. ARO under Award No. W911NF2310008. Y. I. L. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101034413.","date_published":"2025-10-31T00:00:00Z","status":"public","type":"journal_article","file":[{"relation":"main_file","success":1,"content_type":"application/pdf","date_created":"2025-12-01T07:30:00Z","creator":"dernst","access_level":"open_access","date_updated":"2025-12-01T07:30:00Z","file_name":"2025_PhysicalReviewX_Martinet.pdf","checksum":"bb64ea9f2c400205fd89e9bdd15cc850","file_id":"20714","file_size":5902259}],"year":"2025","_id":"20708","article_number":"041017","scopus_import":"1","OA_place":"publisher","title":"Emergent dynamics of active elastic microbeams","OA_type":"gold","oa_version":"Published Version","PlanS_conform":"1","abstract":[{"text":"In equilibrium, the physical properties of matter are set by the interactions between the constituents. In contrast, the energy input of the individual components controls the behavior of synthetic or living active matter. Great progress has been made in understanding the emergent phenomena in active fluids, though their inability to resist shear forces hinders their practical use. This motivates the exploration of active solids as shape-shifting materials, yet, we lack controlled synthetic systems to devise active solids with unconventional properties. Here we build active elastic beams from dozens of active colloids and unveil complex emergent behaviors such as self-oscillations or persistent rotations. Developing tensile tests at the microscale, we show that the active beams are ultrasoft materials, with large (nonequilibrium) fluctuations. Combining experiments, theory, and stochastic inference, we show that the dynamics of the active beams can be mapped on different phase transitions which are tuned by boundary conditions. More quantitatively, we assess all relevant parameters by independent measurements or first-principles calculations, and find that our theoretical description agrees with the experimental observations. Our results demonstrate that the simple addition of activity to an elastic beam unveils novel physics and can inspire design strategies for active solids and functional microscopic machines.","lang":"eng"}],"APC_amount":"4695,11 EUR","file_date_updated":"2025-12-01T07:30:00Z","publication":"Physical Review X","volume":15,"issue":"4","day":"31","doi":"10.1103/rjk2-q2wh","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2160-3308"]},"has_accepted_license":"1","article_processing_charge":"Yes","quality_controlled":"1","month":"10","publication_status":"published","project":[{"grant_number":"101086998","name":"VULCAN: matter, powered from within","_id":"bdac72da-d553-11ed-ba76-eae56e802b74"},{"grant_number":"101034413","call_identifier":"H2020","name":"IST-BRIDGE: International postdoctoral program","_id":"fc2ed2f7-9c52-11eb-aca3-c01059dda49c"}],"user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"ec_funded":1,"oa":1,"author":[{"last_name":"Tong","first_name":"Xin","full_name":"Tong, Xin","id":"50F65CDC-AA30-11E9-A72B-8A12E6697425"},{"last_name":"Li","id":"ee7a5ca8-8b71-11ed-b662-b3341c05b7eb","first_name":"Yuting I","full_name":"Li, Yuting I"},{"last_name":"Schelle","first_name":"Joséphine","full_name":"Schelle, Joséphine"},{"last_name":"Hannezo","first_name":"Edouard B","full_name":"Hannezo, Edouard B","orcid":"0000-0001-6005-1561","id":"3A9DB764-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"last_name":"Heisenberg","orcid":"0000-0002-0912-4566","first_name":"Carl-Philipp J","full_name":"Heisenberg, Carl-Philipp J","id":"39427864-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"}],"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"date_updated":"2026-10-05T08:56:09Z","department":[{"_id":"EdHa"},{"_id":"CaHe"}],"date_created":"2026-09-04T12:32:21Z","biorxivid":1,"tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode","image":"/images/cc_by_nc.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)","short":"CC BY-NC (4.0)"},"external_id":{"biorxivid":["2025.10.15.682552"]},"corr_author":"1","citation":{"ama":"Tong X, Li YI, Schelle J, Hannezo EB, Heisenberg C-PJ. Non-canonical cytokinesis driven by mechanical uncoupling via nematic flows and adhesion-based invagination. <i>bioRxiv</i>. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552\">10.1101/2025.10.15.682552</a>","apa":"Tong, X., Li, Y. I., Schelle, J., Hannezo, E. B., &#38; Heisenberg, C.-P. J. (n.d.). Non-canonical cytokinesis driven by mechanical uncoupling via nematic flows and adhesion-based invagination. <i>bioRxiv</i>. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552\">https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552</a>","ieee":"X. Tong, Y. I. Li, J. Schelle, E. B. Hannezo, and C.-P. J. Heisenberg, “Non-canonical cytokinesis driven by mechanical uncoupling via nematic flows and adhesion-based invagination,” <i>bioRxiv</i>. .","ista":"Tong X, Li YI, Schelle J, Hannezo EB, Heisenberg C-PJ. Non-canonical cytokinesis driven by mechanical uncoupling via nematic flows and adhesion-based invagination. bioRxiv, <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552\">10.1101/2025.10.15.682552</a>.","mla":"Tong, Xin, et al. “Non-Canonical Cytokinesis Driven by Mechanical Uncoupling via Nematic Flows and Adhesion-Based Invagination.” <i>BioRxiv</i>, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552\">10.1101/2025.10.15.682552</a>.","short":"X. Tong, Y.I. Li, J. Schelle, E.B. Hannezo, C.-P.J. Heisenberg, BioRxiv (n.d.).","chicago":"Tong, Xin, Yuting I Li, Joséphine Schelle, Edouard B Hannezo, and Carl-Philipp J Heisenberg. “Non-Canonical Cytokinesis Driven by Mechanical Uncoupling via Nematic Flows and Adhesion-Based Invagination.” <i>BioRxiv</i>, n.d. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552\">https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552</a>."},"fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552","OA_type":"green","title":"Non-canonical cytokinesis driven by mechanical uncoupling via nematic flows and adhesion-based invagination","OA_place":"repository","main_file_link":[{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.15.682552","open_access":"1"}],"_id":"22807","year":"2025","related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"22804","relation":"dissertation_contains"}]},"type":"preprint","status":"public","acknowledgement":"We are grateful to the members of the Hannezo and Heisenberg groups for discussions and technical advice. We also thank the Imaging and Optics Facility and the Lab Support Facility at ISTA for their continuous support. Y.I.L. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 101034413. The research was supported by funding to C.-P.H. from the NOMIS Foundation (Project ID 1.844) and to E.H. from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 851288).","date_published":"2025-10-15T00:00:00Z","user_id":"8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9","project":[{"_id":"fc2ed2f7-9c52-11eb-aca3-c01059dda49c","name":"IST-BRIDGE: International postdoctoral program","call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"101034413"},{"call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"851288","_id":"05943252-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E","name":"Design Principles of Branching Morphogenesis"},{"name":"NOMIS Fellowship Program","_id":"9B861AAC-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A"}],"publication_status":"draft","month":"10","article_processing_charge":"No","doi":"10.1101/2025.10.15.682552","day":"15","publication":"bioRxiv","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Cleavage - the series of rapid cell divisions that follow fertilization - marks the onset of metazoan development and represents a deeply conserved evolutionary process. Across animals, two principal modes exist: complete (holoblastic) and incomplete (meroblastic) cleavage. While holoblastic cleavage resembles conventional cytokinesis both in vitro and in vivo, the mechanisms underlying meroblastic cleavage have remained poorly understood. Using zebrafish embryos as a model, we show that meroblastic cleavage proceeds through a distinct two-step mechanism. The process begins with the assembly and contraction of a large, arc-shaped actomyosin cable. However, this contractile event alone is insufficient to complete division. A second phase, driven by cadherin-mediated membrane adhesion, is required to invaginate the furrow ridge. Strikingly, this transition depends on mechanical uncoupling of the contractile cable from the surrounding cortex. We demonstrate that such uncoupling arises from an active nematic instability, which both enhances contractility along the cable and generates actin depletion zones that relieve lateral connections. Together, these findings reveal that meroblastic cleavage is governed not by a single actomyosin-based event but by a sequential interplay between cytoskeletal contraction and cadherin-dependent adhesion, highlighting a mechanism fundamentally distinct from canonical cytokinesis."}],"oa_version":"Preprint"}]