Computer simulation of cellular patterning within the Drosophila pupal eye.

ABSTRACT: We present a computer simulation and associated experimental validation of assembly of glial-like support cells into the interweaving hexagonal lattice that spans the Drosophila pupal eye. This process of cell movements organizes the ommatidial array into a functional pattern. Unlike earlier simulations that focused on the arrangements of cells within individual ommatidia, here we examine the local movements that lead to large-scale organization of the emerging eye field. Simulations based on our experimental observations of cell adhesion, cell death, and cell movement successfully patterned a tracing of an emerging wild-type pupal eye. Surprisingly, altering cell adhesion had only a mild effect on patterning, contradicting our previous hypothesis that the patterning was primarily the resu

SUBMITTER: Larson DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2895643 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature