title: Neural tube closure: the curious case of shrinking junctions.
abstract: Your brain and spinal cord began as a flat sheet, which narrowed, elongated, and rolled up to form a tube. A new study identifies a key molecular link underlying vertebrate neural tube formation, connecting planar cell polarity patterning to contraction of specific cell-cell junctions.
authors: Biology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. sullivjl@live.unc.edu
authors: Jessica
authors: J
authors: Sullivan-Brown
authors: Bob
authors: B
authors: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D022005:Adherens Junctions / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity; D002642:Chick Embryo / Q000378:metabolism; D002645:Chickens; D006801:Humans; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism; D054258:Neural Plate / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D054259:Neural Tube / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000196:embryology*; D055495:Neurogenesis
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D009218:Myosins