Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2025
Publisher
Wiley
Source Publication
Developmental Dynamics
Source ISSN
1058-8388
Abstract
Background
The lungs of squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) are highly diverse, exhibiting single chambers, multiple chambers, transitional forms with two to three chambers, along with a suite of other anatomical features, including finger-like epithelial projections into the body cavity known as diverticulae. During embryonic development of the simple, sac-like lungs of anoles, the epithelium is pushed through the openings of a pulmonary smooth muscle mesh by the forces of luminal fluid pressure. This process of stress ball morphogenesis generates the faveolar epithelium typical of squamate lungs.
Results
Here, we compared embryonic lung development in brown anoles, leopard geckos, and veiled chameleons to determine if stress ball morphogenesis is conserved across squamates and to understand the physical processes that generate transitional-chambered lungs with diverticulae. We found that epithelial protrusion through the holes in a pulmonary smooth muscle mesh is conserved across squamates. Surprisingly, however, we found that luminal inflation is not conserved. Instead, experimental and computational evidence suggests that leopard geckos and veiled chameleons may generate their faveolae via epithelial folding downstream of epithelial proliferation. Our data also suggest that the transitional chambers and diverticulae of veiled chameleon lungs may develop via apical constriction, a process known to be crucial for airway branching in the bird lung.
Conclusions
Distinct morphogenetic mechanisms generate epithelial diversity in squamate lungs, which may underpin their species-specific physiological and ecological adaptations.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hill, Kaleb; Griffing, Aaron H.; Palmer, Michael A.; Lemma, Bezia; Lupo, Aria S.; Gamble, Tony; Shylo, Natalia A.; Kosmrlj, Andrej; Trainor, Paul A.; and Nelson, Celeste M., "Biophysical Processes of Morphogenesis in Lizard Lungs" (2025). Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications. 1026.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/bio_fac/1026
Comments
Published version. Developmental Dynamics (2025). DOI. This article is © The Authors, published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Used with permission.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.