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ScientificWorldJournalScientificWorldJournalTSWJThe Scientific World Journal2356-61401537-744XTheScientificWorldJOURNAL 1280602878751610.1100/tsw.2002.105Mini-Review ArticleCoupling Planar Cell Polarity Signaling to Morphogenesis Axelrod Jeffrey D. 
1
*McNeill Helen 
2

Department of Pathology, L235, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5324,
USA

Developmental Patterning Laboratory, ICRF, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX,
UK
*Jeffrey D. Axelrod: christopherrussell@example.org 15 2 2002 2 434 454 7 11 2001 6 12 2001 14 12 2001 Copyright © 2002 Jeffrey D. Axelrod and Helen McNeill.2002This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Epithelial cells and other groups of cells acquire a polarity orthogonal to their apical–basal axes, referred to as Planar Cell Polarity (PCP). The process by which these cells become polarized requires a signaling pathway using Frizzled as a receptor. Responding cells sense cues from their environment that provide directional information, and they translate this information into cellular asymmetry. Most of what is known about PCP derives from studies in the fruit fly, Drosophila. We review what is known about how cells translate an unknown signal into asymmetric cytoskeletal reorganization. We then discuss how the vertebrate processes of convergent extension and cochlear hair-cell development may relate to Drosophila PCP signaling.

planar cell polaritytissue polaritymorphogenesisFrizzledsignalingcytoskeletonUsher syndromeconvergent extension


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