Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2010 Oct;22(5):589-96. doi: 10.1016/j.ceb.2010.07.012. Epub 2010 Aug 23.
The shaping of the vertebrate embryonic body plan depends heavily on the narrowing and lengthening (convergence and extension) of embryonic tissues by cell intercalation, a process by which cells actively crawl between one another along the axis of convergence to produce a narrower, longer array. We discuss recent evidence that the vertebrate non-canonical Wnt/Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) pathway, known to directly function in polarizing the movements of intercalating cells, is also involved in the localized assembly of extracellular matrix (ECM). These cell-ECM interactions, in turn, are necessary for expression of the oriented, polarized cell intercalation. The mechanism of PCP/ECM interactions, their molecular signaling, and their mechanical consequences for morphogenesis are discussed with the goal of identifying important unsolved issues.
脊椎动物胚胎体节模式的形成在很大程度上依赖于细胞插入（intercalation）导致的胚胎组织的变窄和伸长（收敛和延伸），该过程中细胞沿着收敛的轴积极地在彼此之间爬行，从而产生更窄、更长的排列。我们讨论了最近的证据，表明脊椎动物非经典的 Wnt/平面细胞极性（PCP）途径，已知直接作用于使插入细胞的运动极化，也参与细胞外基质（ECM）的局部组装。反过来，这些细胞-ECM 相互作用对于定向、极化的细胞插入的表达是必需的。讨论了 PCP/ECM 相互作用的机制、分子信号以及对形态发生的机械后果，目的是确定重要的未解决问题。
