Coupling mechanical deformations and planar cell polarity to create regular patterns in the zebrafish retina.

ABSTRACT: The orderly packing and precise arrangement of epithelial cells is essential to the functioning of many tissues, and refinement of this packing during development is a central theme in animal morphogenesis. The mechanisms that determine epithelial cell shape and position, however, remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigate these mechanisms in a striking example of planar order in a vertebrate epithelium: The periodic, almost crystalline distribution of cone photoreceptors in the adult teleost fish retina. Based on observations of the emergence of photoreceptor packing near the retinal margin, we propose a mathematical model in which ordered columns of cells form as a result of coupling between planar cell polarity (PCP) and anisotropic tissue-scale mechanical stresses. This model

SUBMITTER: Salbreux G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3426565 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature