A biomechanical analysis of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo.

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A biomechanical analysis of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo.

Conte, V; Ulrich, F; Baum, B; Muñoz, J; Veldhuis, J; Brodland, W; Miodownik, M; (2012) A biomechanical analysis of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. PLoS One , 7 (4) , Article e34473. 10.1371/journal.pone.0034473. Green open access

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Abstract

The article provides a biomechanical analysis of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Ventral furrow formation is the first large-scale morphogenetic movement in the fly embryo. It involves deformation of a uniform cellular monolayer formed following cellularisation, and has therefore long been used as a simple system in which to explore the role of mechanics in force generation. Here we use a quantitative framework to carry out a systematic perturbation analysis to determine the role of each of the active forces observed. The analysis confirms that ventral furrow invagination arises from a combination of apical constriction and apical-basal shortening forces in the mesoderm, together with a combination of ectodermal forces. We show that the mesodermal forces are crucial for invagination: the loss of apical constriction leads to a loss of the furrow, while the mesodermal radial shortening forces are the primary cause of the internalisation of the future mesoderm as the furrow rises. Ectodermal forces play a minor but significant role in furrow formation: without ectodermal forces the furrow is slower to form, does not close properly and has an aberrant morphology. Nevertheless, despite changes in the active mesodermal and ectodermal forces lead to changes in the timing and extent of furrow, invagination is eventually achieved in most cases, implying that the system is robust to perturbation and therefore over-determined.

Type:	Article
Title:	A biomechanical analysis of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo.
Location:	United States
Open access status:	An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0034473
Publisher version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034473
Language:	English
Additional information:	© 2012 Conte et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PMCID: PMC3325263 Funding to WB and JV was provided by the Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP); to WB and SN by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); to MM and VC by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council of UK; to BB from the Royal Society and Cancer Research UK; and to FU by the New Jersey Commission of Cancer Research (NJCCR). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Keywords:	Animals, Biomechanics, Drosophila melanogaster, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Embryonic Development, Genotype, Models, Biological
UCL classification:	UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Lab for Molecular Cell Bio MRC-UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering
URI:	https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1344556