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Epithelial coating controls mesenchymal shape change through tissue-positioning effects and reduction of surface-minimizing tension

Nature Cell Biology volume 10, pages 61–69 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Signalling between mesenchymal and epithelial cells has a profound influence on organ morphogenesis. However, less is known about the mechanical function of epithelial–mesenchymal interactions. Here, we describe two principal effects by which epithelia can regulate shape changes in mesenchymal cell aggregates. We propose that during formation of the embryonic body axis, the epithelial layer relieves surface minimizing tensions that would force cell aggregates into a spherical shape, and controls the serial arrangement of cell populations along the axis. The combined effects permit the tissue to deviate from a spherical form and to elongate.

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Figure 1: Lip explants.
Figure 2: Epithelial coating controls elongation.
Figure 3: Epithelial coating controls tissue positioning.
Figure 4: Cell sorting from mixed cell aggregates.
Figure 5: Activin-induced sorting.

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Acknowledgements

We thank: P. Hausen for 6D5 antibodies; E. M. DeRobertis, N. Papalopulu, Y. Sasai and J. Smith for plasmids; A. W. Neumann and A. Kalantarian for ADSA simulations; and T. Harris, P. Zandstra, E. Aacosta, U. Tepass, D. Godt and V. Tropepe for critical reading of the manuscript. Work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-53075) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation to R.W. and by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to H.N.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Harbord Street, Toronto, M5S 3G5, Ontario, Canada

    Hiromasa Ninomiya & Rudolf Winklbauer

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  1. Hiromasa Ninomiya
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  2. Rudolf Winklbauer
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Contributions

H.N. planned the project and carried out the experiments. H.N. and R.W. analysed the data and wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rudolf Winklbauer.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary figures S1, S2, S3, S4, Movie legends, Supplementary Table S1 and Supplementary Discussion (PDF 783 kb)

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Ninomiya, H., Winklbauer, R. Epithelial coating controls mesenchymal shape change through tissue-positioning effects and reduction of surface-minimizing tension. Nat Cell Biol 10, 61–69 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1669

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