Click here to close Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a current version of Chrome, FireFox, or Safari.
XB-ART-60468
Nat Commun 2023 Dec 20;141:8475. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43973-x.
Show Gene links Show Anatomy links

Mechanical control of neural plate folding by apical domain alteration.

Matsuda M , Rozman J , Ostvar S , Kasza KE , Sokol SY .


???displayArticle.abstract???
Vertebrate neural tube closure is associated with complex changes in cell shape and behavior, however, the relative contribution of these processes to tissue folding is not well understood. At the onset of Xenopus neural tube folding, we observed alternation of apically constricted and apically expanded cells. This apical domain heterogeneity was accompanied by biased cell orientation along the anteroposterior axis, especially at neural plate hinges, and required planar cell polarity signaling. Vertex models suggested that dispersed isotropically constricting cells can cause the elongation of adjacent cells. Consistently, in ectoderm, cell-autonomous apical constriction was accompanied by neighbor expansion. Thus, a subset of isotropically constricting cells may initiate neural plate bending, whereas a 'tug-of-war' contest between the force-generating and responding cells reduces its shrinking along the body axis. This mechanism is an alternative to anisotropic shrinking of cell junctions that are perpendicular to the body axis. We propose that apical domain changes reflect planar polarity-dependent mechanical forces operating during neural folding.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 38123550
???displayArticle.pmcLink??? PMC10733383
???displayArticle.link??? Nat Commun
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Species referenced: Xenopus laevis
Genes referenced: lmo7 myc shroom3 sst.1 vangl2
GO keywords: neural tube closure [+]
???displayArticle.morpholinos??? vangl2 MO2


???attribute.lit??? ???displayArticles.show???
References [+] :
Baldwin, The RhoGEF protein Plekhg5 regulates medioapical and junctional actomyosin dynamics of apical constriction during Xenopus gastrulation. 2023, Pubmed, Xenbase