Interplay of cell dynamics and epithelial tension during morphogenesis of the Drosophila pupal wing

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Abstract

How tissue shape emerges from the collective mechanical properties and behavior of individual cells is not understood. We combine experiment and theory to study this problem in the developing wing epithelium of Drosophila. At pupal stages, the wing-hinge contraction contributes to anisotropic tissue flows that reshape the wing blade. Here, we quantitatively account for this wing-blade shape change on the basis of cell divisions, cell rearrangements and cell shape changes. We show that cells both generate and respond to epithelial stresses during this process, and that the nature of this interplay specifies the pattern of junctional network remodeling that changes wing shape. We show that patterned constrains exerted on the tissue by the extracellular matrix are key to force the tissue into the right shape. We present a continuum mechanical model that quantitatively describes the relationship between epithelial stresses and cell dynamics, and how their interplay reshapes the wing.

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Raphaël Etournay

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Marko Popović

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Matthias Merkel

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Amitabha Nandi

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Corinna Blasse

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Benoît Aigouy

Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille, Marseille, France

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Holger Brandl

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Gene Myers

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Guillaume Salbreux

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Frank Jülicher

Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Competing interests
Frank Jülicher, Reviewing editor, eLife.
Suzanne Eaton

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

For correspondence
eaton@mpi-cbg.de

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

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