Serotonin signaling regulates actomyosin contractility during morphogenesis in evolutionarily divergent lineages

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that signals through 5-HT receptors to control key functions in the nervous system. Serotonin receptors are also ubiquitously expressed in various organs and have been detected in embryos of different organisms. Potential morphogenetic functions of serotonin signaling have been proposed based on pharmacological studies but a mechanistic understanding is still lacking. Here, we uncover a role of serotonin signaling in axis extension of Drosophila embryos by regulating Myosin II (MyoII) activation, cell contractility and cell intercalation. We find that serotonin and serotonin receptors 5HT2A and 5HT2B form a signaling module that quantitatively regulates the amplitude of planar polarized MyoII contractility specified by Toll receptors and the GPCR Cirl. Remarkably, serotonin signaling also regulates actomyosin contractility at cell junctions, cellular flows and epiblast morphogenesis during chicken gastrulation. This phylogenetically conserved mechanical function of serotonin signaling in regulating actomyosin contractility and tissue flow reveals an ancestral role in morphogenesis of multicellular organisms. Serotonin signaling is well known for modulating animal behavior. Here the authors discovered it plays a developmental role in regulating actomyosin contractility driven cellular mechanics and tissue flows during gastrulation of insect and bird.