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Do the protocadherins Fat and Dachsous link up to determine both planar cell polarity and the dimensions of organs?

Nature Cell Biology volume 10, pages 1379–1382 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Most, perhaps all cells in epithelial sheets are polarized in the plane of the sheet. This type of polarity, referred to as planar cell polarity (PCP), can be expressed in the orientation of cilia and stereocilia, in oriented outgrowths such as hairs, in the plane of cell division, in directed cell movement and possibly in the orientation of axon extension1,2. Another popular area in current research is growth: there is an attempt to find systems that fix the shape and size of organs. Although both polarity and growth are subject to overall control by morphogen gradients3, the mechanisms of this control are almost completely unknown. Here we discuss recent evidence for a 'steepness hypothesis' that links these two apparently disconnected features of animal development.

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Figure 1: The steepness hypothesis.
Figure 2: The Hippo pathway35.
Figure 3: A sketch of the Ds/Ft model.
Figure 4: The effects of juxtaposing cells with different levels or states of the Ds/Ft system.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council, UK for support. G.S. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peter A. Lawrence is in the Department of Zoology, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. pal@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk,

    Peter A. Lawrence

  2. Gary Struhl is at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 101 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.,

    Gary Struhl

  3. José Casal is in the Department of Zoology, Downing Street, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.,

    José Casal

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  1. Peter A. Lawrence
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Lawrence, P., Struhl, G. & Casal, J. Do the protocadherins Fat and Dachsous link up to determine both planar cell polarity and the dimensions of organs?. Nat Cell Biol 10, 1379–1382 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1208-1379

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