Planar Cell Polarity Signaling: The Developing Cell’s Compass
- 1Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305
- 2Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305
- Correspondence: jaxelrod{at}stanford.edu
Abstract
Cells of many tissues acquire cellular asymmetry to execute their physiologic functions. The planar cell polarity system, first characterized in Drosophila, is important for many of these events. Studies in Drosophila suggest that an upstream system breaks cellular symmetry by converting tissue gradients to subcellular asymmetry, whereas a downstream system amplifies subcellular asymmetry and communicates polarity between cells. In this review, we discuss apparent similarities and differences in the mechanism that controls PCP as it has been adapted to a broad variety of morphological cellular asymmetries in various organisms.
Footnotes
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Editors: Rong Li and Bruce Bowerman
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Additional Perspectives on Symmetry Breaking in Biology available at www.cshperspectives.org
- Copyright © 2009 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved
