Research
Understanding how a 3D tissue is built from the genetic blueprint is a key frontier in biology. In addition to some of the genes known to be important in specific aspects of morphogenesis, physical properties and constraints play a major role in building tissues. As geneticists and developmental cell biologists interested in morphogenesis, we aim to understand how the genetic inputs integrate with the mechanical properties of the cells and tissues to produce form.
We focus our research on two fundamental and conserved morphogenetic phenomena, axis extension and compartmental boundary formation, for which we have evidence of an integration between the function of genes and the action of mechanical forces in the developing tissues. We study these in a model organism, the Drosophila embryo, because this is one of the simplest (and cheapest) multicellular models that are genetically tractable. In addition, this embryo is very accessible to in vivo imaging, develops fast and is increasingly exploited as a paradigm for the mathematic modeling of morphogenesis.
We analyse a window of development that encompasses both axis extension and compartmental boundary formation (Diagram). Axis extension starts shortly after gastrulation with the trunk ectoderm (the germ-band) elongating in the anteroposterior axis. Compartmental boundaries separating each parasegments form during germ-band extension. Our research is interdisciplinary, combining genetic, quantitative and in silico approaches to find novel and universal morphogenetic rules.
Funding
Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, Cambridge Newton Trust
Group members
Guy Blanchard (Senior Research Associate)
Jenny Evans (Lab Manager)
Nathan Hervieux (Research Associate)
Claire Lye (Research Associate)
Alexander Nestor-Bergmann (Herchel-Smith Postdoctoral Fellow)
Elena Scarpa (Herchel-Smith Postdoctoral Fellow)
Tom Sharrock (3rd year PhD student from BBSRC DTP program)
(recent past group members: Huw Naylor, Tara Finegan, Cedric Finet, Jose-Maria Urbano)
Main collaborators
Clare Buckley (PDN)
Daniel St Johnston (Gurdon Institute)
Jocelyn Etienne (Laboratoire Interdisciplaire de Physique, Grenoble, France)
Alexander Fletcher (School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield)
Publications
Sharrock TE, Blanchard GB, Evans J, Sanson B. 2022 Different temporal requirements for the LRR transmembrane receptors Tartan and Toll-2 in the formation of contractile interfaces at compartmental boundaries. Development doi: 10.1242/dev.200292. PMID: 36178136
Nestor-Bergmann A, Blanchard GB, Hervieux N, Fletcher AG, Étienne J, Sanson B. 2022 Adhesion-regulated junction slippage controls cell intercalation dynamics in an Apposed-Cortex Adhesion Model. PLoS Computational Biology doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009812. PMID: 35089922.
Fierling, J John A, Delorme B, Torzynski A, Blanchard GB, Lye CM, Malandain G, Sanson B, Jocelyn Étienne J, Philippe Marmottant, P Catherine Quilliet, Q Matteo Rauzi M. 2022 Embryo-scale epithelial buckling forms a propagating furrow that initiates gastrulation. Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30493-3. PMID: 35688832
Lang, L. F., Dutta, N., Scarpa, E., Sanson, B., Schönlieb, C. B., & Étienne, J. 2021. Joint Motion Estimation and Source Identification using Convective Regularisation with an Application to the Analysis of Laser Nanoablations. In Time-dependent Problems in Imaging and Parameter Identification (pp. 191-227). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57784-1_7
Scarpa, E., Finet, C., Blanchard, G. B., & Sanson, B. (2018). Actomyosin-Driven Tension at Compartmental Boundaries Orients Cell Division Independently of Cell Geometry In Vivo. Developmental Cell. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2018.10.029
Urbano, J. M., Naylor, H. W., Scarpa, E., Mureşan, L., & Sanson, B. (2018). Suppression of epithelial folding at actomyosin-enriched compartment boundaries downstream of Wingless signalling in Drosophila. Development, 145(8), dev155325. http://doi.org/10.1242/dev.155325
Dicko, M., Saramito, P., Blanchard, G. B., Lye, C. M., Sanson, B. and Etienne, J. (2017) Geometry can provide long-range mechanical guidance for embryogenesis. PloS Computational Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/075309
Tetley*, R.J., Blanchard*§, G.B., Fletcher, A.G., Adams, R.J. and B. Sanson§ (2016) Unipolar distributions of junctional Myosin II identify cell stripe boundaries that drive cell intercalation throughout Drosophila axis extension. Elife;5:e12094. doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12094.
Pélissier-Monier A., Sanson B.§ and Monier B. (2016), Performing Chromophore-assisted laser inactivation in Drosophila embryos using GFP, Drosophila: Methods and Protocols, 2nd edition, Editor: Christian Dahmann.
Lye CM, Blanchard, GB, Naylor, HW, Mureşan, L, Huisken, J, Adams, R J, & Sanson, B (2015), Mechanical Coupling between Endoderm Invagination and Axis Extension in Drosophila, PLoS Biology, 13(11), e1002292. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002292
Lye CM, Naylor HW, Sanson B, (2014), Subcellular localisations of the CPTI collection of YFP-tagged proteins in Drosophila embryos, Development, 141: 4006-4017. http://doi.org/10.1242/dev.111310
Lowe N, Rees JS, Roote J, Ryder E, Armean IM, Johnson G, Drummond E, Spriggs H, Drummond J, Magbanua JP, Naylor H, Sanson B, Bastock R, Huelsmann S, Trovisco V, Landgraf M, Knowles-Barley S, Armstrong JD, White-Cooper H, Hansen C, Roger G. Phillips, The UK Drosophila Protein Trap Screening Consortium, Lilley KS, Russell S, St Johnston D, (2014), Analysis of the expression patterns, subcellular localisations and interaction partners of Drosophila proteins using a pigP protein trap library, Development, 141: 3994- 4005
St Johnston D, Sanson B, (2011), Epithelial polarity and morphogenesis, Curr Opin Cell Biol, 23:540-546
Lye C, Sanson B, (2011), Tension and epithelial morphogenesis in Drosophila early embryos, Curr Top Dev Biol, 95: 145-187
Monier B, Pélissier-Monier A, Sanson B, (2011), Establishment and maintenance of compartmental boundaries: role of contractile actomyosin barriers, Cell Mol Life Sci, 68: 1897-910
Monier B, Pelissier-Monier A, Brand AH, Sanson B, (2010), An actomyosin-based barrier inhibits cell mixing at compartmental boundaries in Drosophila embryos, Nat Cell Biol, 12: 60-65 [Paper evaluated as "exceptional" by Faculty1000. Highlighted in Martin AC, Wieschaus EF, Nat Cell Biol, 2010 12: 5-7; Baumann K, Nature Reviews in Molecular Cell Biology, 2010, 11: 4-5; The Scientist, 2010, 24: 67; Editor's choice in Development]
Butler LC, Blanchard GB, Kabla AJ, Lawrence NJ, Welchman DP, Mahadevan L, Adams RJ, Sanson B, (2009), Cell shape changes indicate a role for extrinsic tensile forces in Drosophila germ-band extension, Nat Cell Biol, 11: 859-864 [Paper evaluated as "must read" by Faculty1000. Awarded the international 2010 Drosophila Image Award]
Blanchard GB, Kabla AJ, Schultz NL, Butler LC, Sanson B, Gorfinkiel N, Mahadevan L, Adams RJ, (2009), Tissue tectonics: morphogenetic strain rates, cell shape change and intercalation, Nat Methods, 6: 458-464 [Awarded the international 2010 Drosophila Image Award]
Chandraratna D, Lawrence N, Welchman D, Sanson B, (2007), An in vivo model of apoptosis: linking cell behaviours and caspase substrates in embryos lacking DIAP1, J Cell Sci, 120: 2594-2608
Desbordes SC, Chandraratna D, Sanson B, (2005), A screen for genes regulating Wingless distribution in Drosophila embryos, Genetics, 170: 749-766
Sanson B, (2004), Do glypicans play a role in Wingless signalling in Drosophila? Development, 131: 2511-2513
Desbordes S, Sanson B, (2003), The glypican Dally-like is required for Hedgehog signalling in the embryonic epidermis of Drosophila, Development, 130: 6245-6255
Sanson B, (2001), Generating patterns from fields of cells: examples from Drosophila segmentation, EMBO Rep, 2: 1083-1088
Sanson B, Alexandre C, Fascetti N, Vincent J-P, (1999), Engrailed and hedgehog make the range of Wingless asymetric in Drosophila embryos, Cell, 98: 207-216
Greaves S, Sanson B, White P, Vincent J-P, (1999), A screen to identify genes interacting with armadillo, the Drosophila homologue of Beta-Catenin, Genetics, 153: 1753-1766
Sanson B, White P, Vincent, J-P, (1996), Uncoupling Cadherin-based adhesion from wingless signaling in Drosophila, Nature, 383: 627-630
Lawrence PA, Sanson B, Vincent J-P, (1996), Compartments, wingless and engrailed: patterning the ventral epidermis of Drosophila embryos, Development, 122: 4095-4103
Teaching and Supervisions
Pt IA MVST VAP, Pt II NST Mod P4/M8, Graduate 4YPhDDevMech
