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Giving neural precursors the finger

Filopodia allow epithelia to communicate over long distances. Alexandre/Macmillan

Epithelial cells communicate amongst themselves using finger-like projections, according to Cyrille de Joussineau, Daniel Alexandre, and colleagues (Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, France). The filopodia help individual fly neural precursors to create an island of nonneural cells around themselves, thus allowing the formation of discrete structures such as bristles at regular intervals.

The filopodia only become visible when single cells are labeled. Their inhibitory action is mediated by Delta attached to the filopodia, which contacts membrane-bound Notch on the surrounding, inhibited cells. The extent of visible filopodia roughly matched the range of inhibition. And overexpression of Delta increased the range of the filopodia, so Delta actually promotes formation of its own means of transport.

Inhibition of filopodial outgrowth did not prevent local Delta–Notch signaling, but did shut down longer range inhibition. The result was an increased density of neural cells and more of the associated structures such as microchaetes. Thus, epithelial cells can communicate at long distances without resorting to either diffusible mediators or cell relay mechanisms.

Reference:

de Joussineau, C., et al. 2003. Nature. 426:555–559.[CrossRef][Medline]

William A. Wells

wellsw{at}rockefeller.edu

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This Article Full Text (PDF, 502K) PPT slides of all figures Alert me when this article is cited Services Email this article Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new content in the JCB Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wells, W. A. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Wells, W. A. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?