Multi-scale imaging and analysis identify pan-embryo cell dynamics of germlayer formation in zebrafish.

The coordination of cell movements across spatio-temporal scales ensures precise positioning of organs during vertebrate gastrulation. Mechanisms governing such morphogenetic movements have been studied only within a local region, a single germlayer or in whole embryos without cell identity. Scale-bridging imaging and automated analysis of cell dynamics are needed for a deeper understanding of tissue formation during gastrulation.

High-speed panoramic light-sheet microscopy reveals global endodermal cell dynamics.

The ever-increasing speed and resolution of modern microscopes make the storage and post-processing of images challenging and prevent thorough statistical analyses in developmental biology. Here, instead of deploying massive storage and computing power, we exploit the spherical geometry of zebrafish embryos by computing a radial maximum intensity projection in real time with a 240-fold reduction in data rate. In our four-lens selective plane illumination microscope (SPIM) setup the development of multiple embryos is recorded in parallel and a map of all labelled cells is obtained for each embryo in <10 s.