Ganguly, Poulami Somanya; (2017) Epithelial mechanics of Drosophila gastrulation and pupal wing elongation. Masters thesis (M.Phil), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Epithelia form an important and ubiquitous class of tissues that show complex morphogenetic movements in early embryos and deformations during diseases such as epithelial carcinomas. Understanding the mechanical properties, environment and response of epithelial cells is crucial to uncovering the mechanisms by which they fulfil their normal functions as well as the steps in disease progression. We study epithelia using a two-fold approach combining 3D vertex model simulations and analytical continuum theories. In this thesis, we present two projects that have been conducted in collaboration with developmental biologists to understand the role of mechanics in growth and morphogenesis. The first project deals with ventral furrow formation during gastrulation in Drosophila. We propose a novel tissue-wide mechanism by which prospective mesodermal cells initiate furrowing and subsequently compare simulation results to experiments. Our second project looks at morphogenesis in the growing fly wing. We analyse experimental data from fixed wing samples and propose a theoretical model that takes into account active stresses and active topological transitions to explain the anisotropic growth of the wing.

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