Occurrence of non-apical mitoses at the primitive streak, induced by relaxation of actomyosin and acceleration of the cell cycle, contributes to cell delamination during mouse gastrulation.
During the epithelial-mesenchymal transition driving mouse embryo gastrulation, cells at the primitive streak divide more frequently that in the rest of the epiblast, and half of those divisions happen away from the apical pole. These observations suggests that non-apical mitoses might play a role in cell delamination and/or mesoderm specification. We aimed to uncover and challenge the molecular determinants of mitosis position in the different regions of the epiblast through a combination of computational modeling and pharmacological treatments of embryos. Blocking basement membrane degradation at the streak had no impact on the asymmetry in mitosis frequency and position. By contrast disturbance of actomyosin cytoskeleton or cell cycle dynamics elicited ectopic non-apical mitosis and showed that the streak region is characterized by local relaxation of the actomyosin cytoskeleton and less stringent regulation of cell division. These factors are essential for normal dynamics at the streak but are not sufficient to promote acquisition of mesoderm identity or ectopic cell delamination in the epiblast. Exit from the epithelium requires additional events, such as detachment from the basement membrane. Altogether, our data indicate that cell delamination at the streak is a morphogenetic process which results from a cooperation between EMT events and the local occurrence of non-apical mitoses driven by specific cell cycle and contractility parameters.