Figure 1.

Border cell cluster in Drosophila egg chamber and model simplification. (a) A schematic drawing shows a Drosophila egg chamber and a border cell cluster composed of border cells and polar cells. The cluster moves toward the oocyte guided by chemical signals. (b) Our simplified model of a border cell cluster consists of six nondeformable cells arranged in a rigid array. (c) The basic structure of the signal-processing network consists of four nodes, three fixed positive interactions (solid arrows), and seven possible interactions (dashed arrows with round heads, meaning that the sign of the interactions is undetermined). To see this figure in color, go online.