From Lineage Specification to Organ Architecture：Post-specification Morphogenesis in Development and Disease

Organogenesis extends beyond lineage specification, requiring coordinated control of cell proliferation, migration, rearrangement, shape, polarity, adhesion, lumen formation, branching, and tissue connectivity. These processes transform specified progenitors and differentiating cells into mature three-dimensional organs while integrating epithelial, mesenchymal, vascular, neural, stromal, and immune compartments. Although developmental studies have substantially advanced understanding of induction, patterning, and cell-fate decisions, the later cellular events that establish organ size, geometry, internal organization, and functional connectivity remain comparatively fragmented across organ systems. Important questions concern how differentiation is coupled to morphogenesis, how local cell behaviors are coordinated across tissue scales, and how conserved mechanisms are adapted to distinct organ and species contexts. These issues are also medically relevant because defects in post-specification development can cause congenital abnormalities, impaired organ function, and latent susceptibility to disease. Moreover, developmental morphogenetic programs may be reactivated or dysregulated during regeneration, fibrosis, and cancer. Zebrafish provide a powerful system for addressing these questions through rapid external development, optical accessibility, genetic manipulation, lineage tracing, and long-term live imaging, while complementary studies in other models, organoids, explants, and engineered tissues can help distinguish general principles from context-specific mechanisms.This Research Topic aims to define how lineage-specified progenitors and differentiating cells generate, refine, and maintain organ architecture during the later stages of development. We welcome mechanistic, quantitative, comparative, and technology-driven studies that connect molecular regulation with cell behavior, tissue mechanics, and organ-level form. Particular emphasis will be placed on how proliferation, migration, cell-shape changes, polarity, adhesion, cytoskeletal dynamics, lumen formation, branching, and intercellular communication are integrated during organ assembly. The Research Topic also seeks to clarify how morphogenesis is coupled to differentiation, metabolism, functional maturation, regeneration, and disease, and to identify conserved developmental principles across vertebrate and invertebrate systems.To gather further insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that shape organ architecture after lineage specification, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Lineage-resolved organ morphogenesis and live imaging of specified progenitors during tissue assembly.o Coordination of cell proliferation, cell-cycle dynamics, oriented division, cell competition, senescence, and cell death with organ size and shape.o Individual and collective cell migration, intercalation, convergent rearrangement, tissue rotation, and spatial positioning.o Cell-shape changes, epithelial polarity, cytoskeletal dynamics, folding, elongation, budding, tubulogenesis, lumen formation, and branching.o Remodeling of cell–cell adhesion, cell–matrix interactions, extracellular-matrix deposition, and stable tissue-interface formation.o Crosstalk among epithelial, mesenchymal, endothelial, neural, immune, and stromal compartments during organ development.o Mechanical and physiological inputs, including force generation, tissue tension, confinement, fluid flow, pressure, contractility, and feedback between form and function.o Coupling of morphogenesis with differentiation, metabolism, cell-state transitions, and functional maturation.o Developmental origins of congenital abnormalities, altered organ reserve, degeneration, fibrosis, metabolic disease, and cancer.o Reactivation or dysregulation of developmental morphogenetic programs during regeneration and tissue repair.o Zebrafish-based approaches, comparative studies in other model organisms, organoids, explants, and engineered multicellular systems.o Four-dimensional imaging, lineage tracing, single-cell and spatial omics, optogenetic or mechanical perturbation, quantitative image analysis, and computational modeling of organ form. Topic editors: Sizhou Huang, Andrew Nelson, Jianbo He Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84886/from-lineage-specification-to-organ-architecturepost-specification-morphogenesis-in-development-and-disease