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Development

Dancing the polonaise

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 8, page 946 (2007)Cite this article

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Gastrulation is a crucial stage in embryonic development, during which extensive cell migration causes a single cell layer (ectoderm) to generate two others (endoderm and mesoderm), which then form various cell and tissue types. One of the earliest signs of gastrulation in reptiles, birds and mammals (amniotes) is the appearance of a thickening at the midline of the developing embryo, the primitive streak. Here, ectoderm cells converge and ingress to form the new cell layers. Extensive cell movements resembling the polonaise dance precede the formation of the primitive streak.

The high-resolution three-dimensional images revealed a previously undiscovered event of cell intercalation...

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Voiculescu, O. et al. The amniote primitive streak is defined by epithelial cell intercalation before gastrulation. Nature 449, 1049–1052 (2007)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Tam, P. P. & Loebel, D. A. Gene function in mouse embryogenesis: get set for gastrulation. Nature Rev. Genet. 8, 368–381 (2007)

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  2. Stern, C.D. Gastrulation: from Cells to Embryo (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York, 2004)

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Authors
  1. Francesca Cesari
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Cesari, F. Dancing the polonaise. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 8, 946 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2305

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