Animal development: crowd control.
To shape a developing animal, individual cell movements must be coordinated over long distances. Two recent studies help show how this is achieved during convergence and extension of the Drosophila germ-band, where polarity within the plane of the embryonic epithelium biases junction remodeling to polarize cell intercalation.
Baum
Buzz
B
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University College London branch, 91 Riding House Street, London W1W 7BS, UK. buzz@ludwig.ucl.ac.uk
D022005:Adherens Junctions / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004848:Epithelium / Q000502:physiology; D024462:Myosin Type II / Q000378:metabolism
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D024462:Myosin Type II