RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 3D Tissue elongation via ECM stiffness-cued junctional remodeling JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 384958 DO 10.1101/384958 A1 Dong-Yuan Chen A1 Justin Crest A1 Sebastian J. Streichan A1 David Bilder YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/06/384958.abstract AB Organs are sculpted by extracellular as well as cell-intrinsic forces, but how collective cell dynamics are orchestrated in response to microenvironmental cues is poorly understood. Here we apply advanced image analysis to reveal ECM-responsive cell behaviors that drive elongation of the Drosophila follicle, a model 3D system in which basement membrane stiffness instructs tissue morphogenesis. Through in toto morphometric analyses of WT and ‘round egg’ mutants, we find that neither changes in average cell shape nor oriented cell division are required for appropriate organ shape. Instead, a major element is a reorientation of elongated cells at the follicle anterior. Polarized reorientation is regulated by mechanical cues from the basement membrane, which are transduced by the Src tyrosine kinase to alter junctional E-cadherin trafficking. This mechanosensitive cellular behavior represents a conserved mechanism that can elongate ‘edgeless’ tubular epithelia in a process distinct from those that elongate bounded, planar epithelia.