Cells within a cell: Insights into cellular architecture and polarization from the organization of the early fly embryo.

Drosophila embryogenesis begins with 13 rapid nuclear divisions within a common cytoplasm. These divisions produce approximately 6,000 nuclei that, during the next division cycle, become encased in plasma membrane (PM) and generate the primary embryonic epithelium in the process known as cellularization. Despite the absence of PM boundaries between syncytial nuclei, the secretory membrane system is organized in functionally compartmentalized units around individual nuclei.1 We have recently used in vivo fluorescence imaging to characterize the dynamics of proteins in the PM of the embryonic syncytium. These studies revealed that the PM is polarized already before cellularization. One PM region resides above individual nuclei and has apical-like features, while PM regions lateral to nuclei have basolateral characteristics. Optical highlighting experiments showed that membrane components do not exchange between PM regions that reside above adjacent nuclei. An intact F-actin network was shown to be important for both the PM apicobasallike polarity and the diffusion barriers within the syncytial PM. Our findings, as well as their possible implications, are further discussed in this Addendum.