Hui-Kai Zhang, Xi-Qiao Feng, and Xing Xu. Biomechanics-guided computational design of virtual terrestrial vertebrate morphogenesis. 2026, iScience

To date, experimental development biology still faces challenges to efficiently model the morphogenesis of cross-species vertebrates, spanning from the embryonic development to postnatal growth. No effective computational methods are yet available to reproduce this complex and long-term process. However, recent advancements in large-scale computation and multi-voxel assembly theory have created unprecedented opportunities for establishing a virtual platform to simulate these morphomechanical processes. In this context, we propose a spatiotemporal topological evolution (STTE) method that can investigate the morphogenesis and postnatal growth of three-dimensional multi-voxel virtual embryoids. In this model, the optimization goal is to achieve extensive motion capabilities for the heads of virtual organisms in the vertical direction, thereby facilitating the formation and maintenance of conserved morphological structures characteristic of vertebrates. This proposed theory can rapidly and massively generate digital vertebrates with diverse adult body shapes, and this virtual morphogenesis pipeline offers novel perspectives and technologies for developmental biology.