title: Shaping the vertebrate body plan by polarized embryonic cell movements.
abstract: Polarized cell movements shape the major features of the vertebrate body plan during development. The head-to-tail body axis of vertebrates is elongated in embryonic stages by "convergent extension" tissue movements. During these movements cells intercalate between one another transverse to the elongating body axis to form a narrower, longer array. Recent discoveries show that these polarized cell movements are controlled by homologs of genes that control the polarity of epithelial cells in the developing wing and eye of the fruit fly, Drosophila.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
authors.forename: Ray
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D002465:Cell Movement; D016764:Cell Polarity; D048429:Cell Size; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005796:Genes; D009024:Morphogenesis; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins