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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Aug 6.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Biol. 2015 May 4;25(9):R372–R374. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.03.011

Figure 1. Schematics of long-range planar cell polarity regulation.

Figure 1

(A) Schematic of planar cell polarity in the Drosophila adult wing. Each epithelial cell produces an actin-rich hair that points distally. (B) Top: Long-range patterning of the ‘core’ pathway. Frizzled (Fz) and Van Gogh (Vang) show uniform, non-graded expression, but their ligand–receptor interaction is modulated by the Wg/dWnt4 gradient (direct binding of Wnts to Fz; represented by straight arrows) leading to a polarized field. Bottom: The cell senses the direction of the Wnt gradient by the relative amount of Wnt available to Fz setting up the axis of Fz–Vang binding. Flamingo (purple) is also critical for the Fz–Vang interaction. (C) Top: Long-range patterning of the Fat–Dachsous (Ft–Ds) pathway is dependent on the graded expression of Ds and Four-jointed (Fj); Ft expression is not graded. Wg acts via the canonical Wnt pathway to regulate graded Fj and Ds transcription (curved arrows represent transcriptional activation or repression of the Wg targets). Bottom: The cell senses the gradient of Ft and Ds phosphorylation with Ds accumulating on the distal side of the cell and forming intercellular complexes with Ft on the proximal side of the neighboring cell.