Epithelial tissues provide an important barrier function in animals, but these tissues are subjected to extreme strains during day-to-day activities such as feeding and locomotion. Understanding tissue mechanics and the adaptive response in dynamic force landscapes remains an important area of research. Here we carry out a multi-modal study of a simple yet highly dynamic organism, Trichoplax adhaerens, and report the discovery of abrupt, bulk epithelial tissue fractures induced by the organism’s own motility. Coupled with rapid healing, this discovery accounts for dramatic shape change and physiological asexual division in this early-divergent metazoan. We generalize our understanding of this phenomenon by codifying it in a heuristic model focusing on the debonding–bonding criterion in a soft, active living material. Using a suite of quantitative experimental and numerical techniques, we demonstrate a force-driven ductile-to-brittle material transition governing the morphodynamics of tissues pushed to the edge of rupture.

上皮组织在动物中提供了重要的屏障功能，但这些组织在日常活动（如进食和运动）中会承受极大的压力。了解组织力学和动态力景观中的自适应响应仍然是一个重要的研究领域。在这里，我们对一种简单但高度动态的生物体Trichoplax adhaerens进行了多模式研究，并报告发现由生物体自身的运动性引起的突然的大块上皮组织断裂。再加上快速愈合，这一发现解释了这种早期发散后生动物的剧烈形状变化和生理无性分裂。我们通过将其编码在一个启发式模型中来概括我们对这种现象的理解，该模型侧重于柔软、活跃的生物材料中的脱粘标准。使用一套定量实验和数值技术，我们展示了一种力驱动的韧性到脆性材料的转变，该转变控制着被推到破裂边缘的组织的形态动力学。