Autonomous epithelial folding induced by an intracellular mechano-polarity feedback loop.

ABSTRACT: Epithelial tissues form folded structures during embryonic development and organogenesis. Whereas substantial efforts have been devoted to identifying mechanical and biochemical mechanisms that induce folding, whether and how their interplay synergistically shapes epithelial folds remains poorly understood. Here we propose a mechano-biochemical model for dorsal fold formation in the early Drosophila embryo, an epithelial folding event induced by shifts of cell polarity. Based on experimentally observed apical domain homeostasis, we couple cell mechanics to polarity and find that mechanical changes following the initial polarity shifts alter cell geometry, which in turn influences the reaction-diffusion of polarity proteins, thus forming a feedback loop between cell mechanics and polarity.

SUBMITTER: Wen FL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8675927 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature