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In the earliest stages of life, cells group together and begin to form organs. Cells on the surface of a cluster contract and fold inwards during the first step, called invagination. Understanding what drives this transformation could help prevent disease-causing errors that occasionally occur. To investigate the details, researchers have turned to optogenetics – a technique that uses light mixed with gene tweaking to influence cell behaviour. They used it to limit the levels of myosin-II – a protein involved in the process and known for causing muscle contraction; this stiffened the cells of a fruit fly embryo, preventing invagination (left), while unaltered cells folded inwards like normal (right). This proved one long-standing theory about the process, and handed control of a key step in embryonic development to researchers, who now hope optogenetics might help create and shape artificial tissues, steer tissue development in regenerative medicine, and further explain the mysteries of life’s first steps.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Video from work by Daniel Krueger and Pietro Tardivo, and colleagues
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
• Video originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in The EMBO Journal, November 2018