CDC-42 Orients Cell Migration during Epithelial Intercalation in the Caenorhabditis elegans Epidermis.

ABSTRACT: Cell intercalation is a highly directed cell rearrangement that is essential for animal morphogenesis. As such, intercalation requires orchestration of cell polarity across the plane of the tissue. CDC-42 is a Rho family GTPase with key functions in cell polarity, yet its role during epithelial intercalation has not been established because its roles early in embryogenesis have historically made it difficult to study. To circumvent these early requirements, in this paper we use tissue-specific and conditional loss-of-function approaches to identify a role for CDC-42 during intercalation of the Caenorhabditis elegans dorsal embryonic epidermis. CDC-42 activity is enriched in the medial tips of intercalating cells, which extend as cells migrate past one another. Moreover, CDC-42 is involved

SUBMITTER: Walck-Shannon E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5127194 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature