Tissue fluidity mediated by adherens junction dynamics promotes planar cell polarity-driven ommatidial rotation

Nabila Founounou, Reza Farhadifar, Giovanna M. Collu, Ursula Weber, Michael J. Shelley and Marek Mlodzik ()
Additional contact information
Nabila Founounou: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Reza Farhadifar: Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation
Giovanna M. Collu: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Ursula Weber: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Michael J. Shelley: Flatiron Institute, Simons Foundation
Marek Mlodzik: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract The phenomenon of tissue fluidity—cells’ ability to rearrange relative to each other in confluent tissues—has been linked to several morphogenetic processes and diseases, yet few molecular regulators of tissue fluidity are known. Ommatidial rotation (OR), directed by planar cell polarity signaling, occurs during Drosophila eye morphogenesis and shares many features with polarized cellular migration in vertebrates. We utilize in vivo live imaging analysis tools to quantify dynamic cellular morphologies during OR, revealing that OR is driven autonomously by ommatidial cell clusters rotating in successive pulses within a permissive substrate. Through analysis of a rotation-specific nemo mutant, we demonstrate that precise regulation of junctional E-cadherin levels is critical for modulating the mechanical properties of the tissue to allow rotation to progress. Our study defines Nemo as a molecular tool to induce a transition from solid-like tissues to more viscoelastic tissues broadening our molecular understanding of tissue fluidity.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27253-0 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-27253-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27253-0

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().