Volume 73 Number 5 September 2006	back to contents

From the Brookdale Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029.

Address all correspondence to Marek Mlodzik, Ph.D., Brookdale Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, Box 1020, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029; email: marek.mlodzik@mssm.edu

Presented to the Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, May 14, 2003 and updated December 2005.

Abstract

Epithelial cells frequently display—in addition to the common apical-basolateral polarity—a polarization within the plane of the epithelium. This is commonly referred to as planar cell polarity (PCP) or tissue polarity. Examples of vertebrate PCP include epithelial patterning in the skin and inner ear, and also the morphogenetic movements of mesenchymal cells during convergent extension at gastrulation. In Drosophila, all adult epithelial structures of the cuticle are polarized within the plane. This review presents recent results and new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment of PCP, and compares and contrasts the intriguing similarities between PCP signaling in Drosophila and vertebrates.

Key Words

Frizzled, planar cell polarity, tissue polarity, convergent extension, organ of Corti, Drosophila, mouse, zebrafish.

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