Pulsed contractions of an actin–myosin network drive apical constriction

Adam C. Martin, Matthias Kaschube and Eric F. Wieschaus ()
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Adam C. Martin: Howard Hughes Medical Institute,
Matthias Kaschube: Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, and,
Eric F. Wieschaus: Howard Hughes Medical Institute,

Nature, 2009, vol. 457, issue 7228, 495-499

Abstract: The shape of cells to come During development, changes in individual cell shape drive the overall organization of organs and tissues. Now a study of the dynamics of cell behaviour during fruit fly development reveals a previously unknown ratchet-like mechanism that drives cell shape change. Gastrulation in the Drosophila embryo involves the apical constriction of ventral cells, which induces a ventral furrow and invagination of the mesoderm. This new work shows that the apical constriction of ventral cells is pulsed: repeated constrictions are interrupted by pauses in which the constricted state of the cells in maintained. These pulses are powered by actin–myosin contractions and are dependent on the expression of a transcription factor Snail, whereas the constricted state is stabilized by another transcription factor, Twist.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07522

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