(281c) From Signals to Shapes in Tissue Morphogenesis

The epithelial sheet that envelops the Drosophila oocyte gives rise to the eggshell, a complex structure that controls several critical aspects of embryonic development. Eggshell morphogenesis can be viewed as a two-step process, in which localized chemical signals induce highly robust tissue deformations. In the first step of this process, a small set of signals establish two-dimensional expression domains of dozens of genes, which collectively control patterns of mechanical forces and properties of cells across the epithelium. In the second step, these forces act on the epithelium, transforming it into a three-dimensional structure. The anatomical simplicity of the developing egg and its amenability to imaging and genetic studies makes it an ideal system for establishing multiscale models of epithelial morphogenesis. I will present the results of our recent efforts in this area.