Team Leader
Shigeo Hayashi Ph.D.

Laboratory for Morphogenetic Signaling

Location Kobe / Developmental Biology Buildings

E-mailshigeo.hayashi[at]riken.jp

Please replace [at] with @.

Morphogenesis of cell and organ shape

Our research aim is to understand fundamental mechanisms of animal morphogenesis with particular interest in the mechanical basis of tissue movement and its interaction with the extracellular environment. Our main research focus is the tracheal system in the Drosophila embryo, a network of tubular epithelium used as a respiratory organ. Trachea is formed through invagination, tube formation, elongation, fusion, and final maturation into a respiratory organ. We are particularly interested in the mechanical control of epithelial architectures. Epithelium is stabilized by cell-cell adhesion and cell-matrix adhesion. Breaking this stability is essential for initiating morphogenetic movement. We found that prospective tracheal primordium is under negative tension (pressurized). Anisotropic redistribution of tissue tension and timely mitosis initiates local mechanical instability that leads to tissue invagination movement (Kondo and Hayashi, 2013). Once the tracheal network is formed, tube diameter and length are enlarged to reach the final size. Tracheal size change involves increase in cell size, especially an increase in apical cell area facing the luminal side. A key question is how individually controlled cellular growth is coordinated to form coherent tissue architecture. We found that extracellular matrix in the luminal space plays a central role by providing mechanical stability to the tubules (Dong et al., 2013, 2014). Defects in extracellular matrix components lead to destabilization of tube shape and malformation, resulting in tubule morphology seen in organs under pathological conditions.

Another research area of interest is the mechanism of cell morphogenesis. Here we ask the question to what extent single cells can autonomously organize nanometer scale cellular patterns. Our studies have uncovered the role of the cellular trafficking center as an organizer of cell elongation (Otani et al., 2011).

Research Theme

Dynamics of epithelial architectures in morphogenesis
Control of cytoskeletons in cell morphogenesis

Selected Publications

Chu WC, Hayashi S.
Mechano-chemical enforcement of tendon apical ECM into nano-filaments during Drosophila flight muscle development.
Current biology : CB 31(7), 1366-1378 Mon Apr 12 00:00:00 JST 2021 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.010

Ando T, Sekine S, Inagaki S, et al.
Nanopore Formation in the Cuticle of an Insect Olfactory Sensillum.
Current biology : CB 29(9), 1512-1520 Mon May 06 00:00:00 JST 2019 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.03.043

Ogura Y, Wen FL, Sami MM, et al.
A Switch-like Activation Relay of EGFR-ERK Signaling Regulates a Wave of Cellular Contractility for Epithelial Invagination.
Developmental cell 46(2), 162-172 Mon Jul 16 00:00:00 JST 2018 doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2018.06.004

Miao G, Hayashi S.
Escargot controls the sequential specification of two tracheal tip cell types by suppressing FGF signaling in Drosophila.
Development 143, 4261-4271 Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 JST 2016 doi: 10.1242/dev.133322

Otani T, Ogura Y, Misaki K, et al.
IKKepsilon inhibits PKC to promote Fascin-dependent actin bundling.
Development 143, 3806-3816 Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 JST 2016 doi: 10.1242/dev.138495

Kato K, Dong Bo, Wada H, et al.
Microtubule-dependent balanced cell contraction and luminal-matrix modification accelerate epithelial tube fusion.
Nature Communications 7, 11141 Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 JST 2016 doi: 10.1038/ncomms11141

Hannezo E, Dong B, Recho P, et al.
Cortical instability drives periodic supracellular actin pattern formation in epithelial tubes.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(28), 8620-5 Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 JST 2015 doi: 10.1073/pnas.1504762112

Dong B, Kakihara K, Otani T, et al.
Rab9 and retromer regulate retrograde trafficking of luminal protein required for epithelial tube length control.
Nature Communications 4, 1358 Sun Dec 01 00:00:00 JST 2013 doi: 10.1038/ncomms2347

Kondo T, Hayashi S.
Mitotic cell rounding accelerates epithelial invagination.
Nature 494, 125-129 Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 JST 2013 doi: 10.1038/nature11792