Click here to close Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a current version of Chrome, FireFox, or Safari.
XB-ART-39694
Curr Biol 2009 Jun 09;1911:924-9. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.018.
Show Gene links Show Anatomy links

The PCP pathway instructs the planar orientation of ciliated cells in the Xenopus larval skin.

Mitchell B , Stubbs JL , Huisman F , Taborek P , Yu C , Kintner C .


???displayArticle.abstract???
Planar cell polarity (PCP) is a property of epithelial tissues where cellular structures coordinately orient along a two-dimensional plane lying orthogonal to the axis of apical-basal polarity. PCP is particularly striking in tissues where multiciliate cells generate a directed fluid flow, as seen, for example, in the ciliated epithelia lining the respiratory airways or the ventricles of the brain. To produce directed flow, ciliated cells orient along a common planar axis in a direction set by tissue patterning, but how this is achieved in any ciliated epithelium is unknown. Here, we show that the planar orientation of Xenopus multiciliate cells is disrupted when components in the PCP-signaling pathway are altered non-cell-autonomously. We also show that wild-type ciliated cells located at a mutant clone border reorient toward cells with low Vangl2 or high Frizzled activity and away from those with high Vangl2 activity. These results indicate that the PCP pathway provides directional non-cell-autonomous cues to orient ciliated cells as they differentiate, thus playing a critical role in establishing directed ciliary flow.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 19427216
???displayArticle.pmcLink??? PMC2720401
???displayArticle.link??? Curr Biol
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: vangl2
???displayArticle.morpholinos??? vangl2 MO1

References [+] :
Adler, Planar signaling and morphogenesis in Drosophila. 2002, Pubmed