3D Tissue elongation via ECM stiffness-cued junctional remodeling

Abstract

Organs are sculpted by extracellular as well as cell-intrinsic forces, but how collective cell dynamics are orchestrated in response to microenvironmental cues is poorly understood. Here we apply advanced image analysis to reveal ECM-responsive cell behaviors that drive elongation of the Drosophila follicle, a model 3D system in which basement membrane stiffness instructs tissue morphogenesis. Through in toto morphometric analyses of WT and round egg mutants, we find that neither changes in average cell shape nor oriented cell division are required for appropriate organ shape. Instead, a major element is a reorientation of elongated cells at the follicle anterior. Polarized reorientation is regulated by mechanical cues from the basement membrane, which are transduced by the Src tyrosine kinase to alter junctional E-cadherin trafficking. This mechanosensitive cellular behavior represents a conserved mechanism that can elongate edgeless tubular epithelia in a process distinct from those that elongate bounded, planar epithelia.