title: Movement directionality in collective migration of germ layer progenitors.
abstract: Collective cell migration, the simultaneous movement of multiple cells that are connected by cell-cell adhesion, is ubiquitous in development, tissue repair, and tumor metastasis [1, 2]. It has been hypothesized that the directionality of cell movement during collective migration emerges as a collective property [3, 4]. Here we determine how movement directionality is established in collective mesendoderm migration during zebrafish gastrulation. By interfering with two key features of collective migration, (1) having neighboring cells and (2) adhering to them, we show that individual mesendoderm cells are capable of normal directed migration when moving as single cells but require cell-cell adhesion to participate in coordinated and directed migration when moving as part of a group. We conclude that movement directionality is not a de novo collective property of mesendoderm cells but rather a property of single mesendoderm cells that requires cell-cell adhesion during collective migration.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Pfotenhauerstrasse 108, D-01307 Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Yohanna
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arboleda-Estudillo
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krieg
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stühmer
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Licata
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Carl-Philipp
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Heisenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D017931:DNA Primers; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers