MINI REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Embryonic Development
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1672263
This article is part of the Research TopicEditors’ Showcase 2024: Insights in Morphogenesis and PatterningView all 8 articles
Left-right symmetry breaking: learning from the chicken
Provisionally accepted
Tobias Karl Pieper
Nikoloz Tsikolia*- University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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Morphological left-right asymmetry of visceral organs in most cases reveals a typical arrangement. This implies directed symmetry breaking which is suggested to be based on the existence of structural chirality. At early developmental stages many vertebrate model organisms display so-called leftward flow of extra cellular liquids which is based on the unidirectional rotation of chiral cilia. Cytoskeletal chirality has been shown to contribute to the left-right asymmetry of invertebrates including Caenorabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. The mechanisms of left-right symmetry breaking in vertebrates without ciliary flow remain mysterious. Here, we present our perspective on left-right patterning and symmetry breaking in the chick within a broader context.
Keywords: left-right symmetry breaking, Gastrulation, Chirality, Vertebrate embryo, Cytoskeleton
Received: 24 Jul 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pieper and Tsikolia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nikoloz Tsikolia, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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