Complex polarity: building multicellular tissues through apical membrane traffic

Abstract
The formation of distinct subdomains of the cell surface is crucial for multicellular organism development. The most striking example of this is apical‐basal polarization. What is much less appreciated is that underpinning an asymmetric cell surface is an equally dramatic intracellular endosome rearrangement. Here, we review the interplay between classical cell polarity proteins and membrane trafficking pathways, and discuss how this marriage gives rise to cell polarization. We focus on those mechanisms that regulate apical polarization, as this is providing a number of insights into how membrane traffic and polarity are regulated at the tissue level.

Cell polarization involves the asymmetric organization of the cell surface, which is often preceded by intracellular organelle rearrangements. We provide a focused survey of our current understanding of the interplay between the evolutionarily conserved polarity proteins that induce cell polarization, and the membrane trafficking machinery that facilitate such processes. We discuss the crucial roles this plays in allowing polarized cells and tissues to form.

Source: Traffic - May 31, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Alvaro Roman‐Fernandez, David M. Bryant Tags: Review Source Type: research