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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 May 31.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2018 Jul 11;51:67–77. doi: 10.1016/j.gde.2018.06.013

Figure 3. Dynamic control of cell behavior and tissue remodeling during neurulation.

Figure 3.

(A) Presumptive floor plate, lateral and roof neural cells established by FGF and Nodal signals during gastrulation undergo distinct modes of rearrangement to form elongated rows during neurulation. (B) Neural tube closes by posterior-anterior “zippering”, in which pairs of neural (Ne) and epidermal (Epi) cells meet at the midline, followed by junctional exchange in which Ne/Epi junctions (red dots) rearrange to form Ne/Ne and Epi/Epi junctions (green dots). (C) Cytomechanical basis for zippering: Myosin is activated along all Ne/Epi junctions (thin red lines) ahead of the zipper. Strong myosin activation (thick red lines) just ahead of zipper drives zipper advance, stretching cells (orange) behind the zipper. Junction exchange and cell shape relaxation dissipates resistance behind the zipper.