英国帝国理工大学Irene Miguel-Aliaga团队揭示器官几何学的性别。该研究于2024年5月29日在线发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然》。

研究人员利用对许多黑腹果蝇的体积扫描，开发出量化器官形状、位置和个体间变异的三维特征的方法。研究人员发现，器官的形状及其相对排列在性别间是一致的，但也存在差异，并发现了意想不到的器官间邻接和左右器官不对称现象。研究人员以横穿整个身体的肠道为重点，研究了三维器官几何形状的性别差异是如何产生的。

成年肠道的构造仅部分由相邻器官施加的物理限制决定；其性别特异性形状由肠道肌肉和类似血管的气管之间的机械化学交流积极维持。事实上，肌肉来源的成纤维细胞生长因子样配体的性别表达使气管具有性别二态性。反过来，气管分支将肠道环连接成雄性或雌性形状，从而产生生理后果。器官间的几何形状代表了以前未曾认识到的生物复杂性水平，它可能促成或限制器官间的交流，并有助于解释器官功能的性别或物种差异。

据介绍，器官在人体中有独特的空间布局，但却经常被忽视。

附：英文原文

Title: The sex of organ geometry

Author: Blackie, Laura, Gaspar, Pedro, Mosleh, Salem, Lushchak, Oleh, Kong, Lingjin, Jin, Yuhong, Zielinska, Agata P., Cao, Boxuan, Mineo, Alessandro, Silva, Bryon, Ameku, Tomotsune, Lim, Shu En, Mao, Yanlan, Prieto-Godino, Luca, Schoborg, Todd, Varela, Marta, Mahadevan, L., Miguel-Aliaga, Irene

Issue&Volume: 2024-05-29

Abstract: Organs have a distinctive yet often overlooked spatial arrangement in the body1,2,3,4,5. We propose that there is a logic to the shape of an organ and its proximity to its neighbours. Here, by using volumetric scans of many Drosophila melanogaster flies, we develop methods to quantify three-dimensional features of organ shape, position and interindividual variability. We find that both the shapes of organs and their relative arrangement are consistent yet differ between the sexes, and identify unexpected interorgan adjacencies and left–right organ asymmetries. Focusing on the intestine, which traverses the entire body, we investigate how sex differences in three-dimensional organ geometry arise. The configuration of the adult intestine is only partially determined by physical constraints imposed by adjacent organs; its sex-specific shape is actively maintained by mechanochemical crosstalk between gut muscles and vascular-like trachea. Indeed, sex-biased expression of a muscle-derived fibroblast growth factor-like ligand renders trachea sexually dimorphic. In turn, tracheal branches hold gut loops together into a male or female shape, with physiological consequences. Interorgan geometry represents a previously unrecognized level of biological complexity which might enable or confine communication across organs and could help explain sex or species differences in organ function.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07463-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07463-4