Abstract
The key process giving rise to ventral furrow formation (VFF) in the Drosophila embryo is apical (outer side) constriction of cells in the ventral region. A combined effect of the cellular constrictions is a negative spontaneous curvature of the cell layer, which buckles inwards. In our recent paper [Gao et al. (2016). J Phys Condens Matter, 28(41), 414021] we showed that the cell constrictions in the initial phase of VFF produce well-defined cellular constriction chain (CCC) patterns, and we argued that CCC formation is a signature of mechanical signaling that coordinates apical constrictions through tensile stress. In the present study, we provide a statistical comparison between our active granular fluid (AGF) model and time lapses of live embryos. We also demonstrate that CCCs can penetrate regions of reduced constriction probability, and we argue that CCC formation increases robustness of VFF to spatial variation of cell contractility.