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First published online June 19, 2009
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.035410

Development 136, 2403-2411 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
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Cell rearrangements, cell divisions and cell death in a migrating epithelial sheet in the abdomen of Drosophila

Marcus Bischoff1,2,* and Zoltán Cseresnyés1

1 Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
2 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: mb628{at}cam.ac.uk)

Accepted 19 May 2009

During morphogenesis, cell movements, cell divisions and cell death work together to form complex patterns and to shape organs. These events are the outcome of decisions made by many individual cells, but how these decisions are controlled and coordinated is elusive. The adult abdominal epidermis of Drosophila is formed during metamorphosis by divisions and extensive cell migrations of the diploid histoblasts, which replace the polyploid larval cells. Using in vivo 4D microscopy, we have studied the behaviour of the histoblasts and analysed in detail how they reach their final position and to what extent they rearrange during their spreading. Tracking individual cells, we show that the cells migrate in two phases that differ in speed, direction and amount of cellular rearrangement. Cells of the anterior (A) and posterior (P) compartments differ in their behaviour. Cells near the A/P border are more likely to change their neighbours during migration. The mitoses do not show any preferential orientation. After mitosis, the sisters become preferentially aligned with the direction of movement. Thus, in the abdomen, it is the extensive cell migrations that appear to contribute most to morphogenesis. This contrasts with other developing epithelia, such as the wing imaginal disc and the embryonic germband in Drosophila, where oriented mitoses and local cell rearrangements appear to direct morphogenesis. Furthermore, our results suggest that an active force created by the histoblasts contributes to the formation of the adult epidermis. Finally, we show that histoblasts occasionally undergo apoptosis.

Key words: Morphogenesis, Cell migration, Cell division orientation


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Development 2009 136: e1404. [Full Text]  





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