Figure 7.

Morphogenetic Behaviors Induced by Interface Contractility

Tissue with apical (red), basal (blue), lateral surfaces (gray), and adherens junctions (red). Magenta indicates experimentally induced conditions (HS, heat shock), green potentially natural scenarios creating differently fated clone sizes. Gray indicates speculation on a role of interface contractility in development.

(A) Single misspecified cells are experimentally induced by a short heat shock (HS). Random mutations arise naturally in single cells and may cause fate differences. Interface contractility causes apical constriction and apoptosis to preserve tissue homeostasis.

(B) Intermediate-sized clones are induced experimentally by intermediate HS. Misspecified cell clusters may arise naturally from single cells that proliferate before detection or escape apoptosis by potent onco- or tumor-suppressor-gene mutations. During development, intermediate clusters arise by patterning. Cysts compromise tissue integrity and potentially promote precancerous lesions.

(C) Large clones are induced experimentally by long HS. During development, large lineage domains arise by patterning and tissue growth. Interface contractility leads to interface smoothening as observed at lineage boundaries.