During vertebrate gastrulation, convergence and extension (C&E) movements shape the germ layers to form the anterioposteriorly elongated body axis of vertebrate embryos. Non-canonical Wnt/planar cell polarity (Wnt/PCP) signalling regulates C&E by polarising the morphology and behaviour of cells, which suggests that the Wnt/PCP pathway might influence the microtubule cytoskeleton. Here, Lila Solnica-Krezel and co-workers investigate this possibility by assessing the position of the centrosome/microtubule organising centre (MTOC) relative to the cell nucleus and the body axes during zebrafish gastrulation (see p. 543). They report that MTOCs occupy a polarised position within the plane of the ectoderm and mesoderm, becoming biased to the posterior and dorsal/medial side of the cell between mid and late gastrulation. This polarisation, they report, depends on intact Wnt/PCP signalling. Conversely, microtubule disruption experiments show that microtubules are required to initiate the anterior localisation of Prickle, a core PCP signalling component. These and other results suggest that reciprocal interactions between Wnt/PCP signalling and the microtubule cytoskeleton are required during C&E gastrulation movements.
Wnt/PCP signalling, microtubules and gastrulation
Wnt/PCP signalling, microtubules and gastrulation. Development 1 February 2011; 138 (3): e0301. doi:
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