RT Journal Article
T1 Scutoids are a geometrical solution to three-dimensional packing of epithelia.
A1 Gómez-Gálvez, Pedro
A1 Vicente-Munuera, Pablo
A1 Tagua, Antonio
A1 Forja, Cristina
A1 Castro, Ana M
A1 Letrán, Marta
A1 Valencia-Expósito, Andrea
A1 Grima, Clara
A1 Bermúdez-Gallardo, Marina
A1 Serrano-Pérez-Higueras, Óscar
A1 Cavodeassi, Florencia
A1 Sotillos, Sol
A1 Martín-Bermudo, María D
A1 Márquez, Alberto
A1 Buceta, Javier
A1 Escudero, Luis M
AB As animals develop, tissue bending contributes to shape the organs into complex three-dimensional structures. However, the architecture and packing of curved epithelia remains largely unknown. Here we show by means of mathematical modelling that cells in bent epithelia can undergo intercalations along the apico-basal axis. This phenomenon forces cells to have different neighbours in their basal and apical surfaces. As a consequence, epithelial cells adopt a novel shape that we term "scutoid". The detailed analysis of diverse tissues confirms that generation of apico-basal intercalations between cells is a common feature during morphogenesis. Using biophysical arguments, we propose that scutoids make possible the minimization of the tissue energy and stabilize three-dimensional packing. Hence, we conclude that scutoids are one of nature's solutions to achieve epithelial bending. Our findings pave the way to understand the three-dimensional organization of epithelial organs.
YR 2018
FD 2018-07-27
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10668/12768
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10668/12768
LA en
DS RISalud
RD Apr 12, 2025