title: Mechanotransduction During Vertebrate Neurulation.
abstract: Vertebrate neural tube formation is a complex morphogenetic process, which involves hundreds of genes dynamically coordinating various behaviors in different cell populations of neural tissue. The challenge remains to determine the relative contributions of physical forces and biochemical signaling events to neural tube closure and accompanying cell fate specification. Planar cell polarity (PCP) molecules are prime candidate factors for the production of actomyosin-dependent mechanical signals necessary for morphogenesis. Conversely, physical forces may contribute to the polarized distribution of PCP proteins. Understanding mechanosensory and mechanotransducing properties of diverse molecules should help define the direction and amplitude of physical stresses that are critical for neurulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA. Electronic address: sergei.sokol@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: Sergei Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Sokol
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular / Q000502:physiology*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D054261:Neurulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Hippo pathway; Mechanical force; Myosin II; Neural crest transcription; Neural tube; Planar cell polarity; Rab11; Xenopus