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First published online February 10, 2005

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Ploughing a straight furrow

Precise changes in plasma membrane shape underlie many morphogenetic processes. During the cellularisation of Drosophila embryos, furrow canal formation - a specialised process of membrane invagination - and actin cytoskeleton reorganisation enclose the nuclei of the syncytial blastoderm into cells. On p. 1009, Großhans and colleagues report that the guanyl-nucleotide exchange factor RhoGEF2 and the formin Diaphanous (Dia) play a crucial role in regulating the position, shape and stability of the furrow canal by controlling actin filament assembly. They show that RhoGEF2 or dia mutant embryos have enlarged furrows - both proteins normally localise to the invagination site before furrow formation - and that F-actin levels at the furrow canal are reduced in these mutants. As RhoGEF2 and dia appear to act in a parallel genetic pathway to nullo and sry-, early furrow canal markers that are involved in junction formation, these two pathways might control complementary aspects of furrow canal formation.

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RhoGEF2 and the formin Dia control the formation of the furrow canal by directed actin assembly during Drosophila cellularisation

Jörg Großhans, Christian Wenzl, Hans-Martin Herz, Slawomir Bartoszewski, Frank Schnorrer, Nina Vogt, Heinz Schwarz, and H.-Arno Müller
Development 2005 132: 1009-1020. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?