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Cell Rearrangement Progression Along the Apical-Basal Axis is Linked with 3D Epithelial Tissue Structure

Erika M. Kusaka*, Sassan Ostvar*, Xiaoyun Liu, Xun Wang, Tianyi Liu, and Karen E. Kasza†

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: karen.kasza@columbia.edu
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PRX Life 4, 013005 – Published 12 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/l5r5-pb9t

Abstract

Epithelial tissues undergo extensive structural remodeling during embryonic development. Tissue remodeling is often enabled by oriented cell rearrangements that are linked with patterns of mechanical stresses in the tissue and with tissue mechanical properties. Cell rearrangements and their links to tissue structure have largely been studied at the apical side of tissues at the level of adherens junctions. Less is known about the involvement of basolateral domains in cell rearrangements. Here we use live confocal imaging to quantify cell rearrangements, cell packing structure, and cell morphology in three dimensions in the converging and extending Drosophila germband epithelium. We report gradients in cell shapes and tissue structure along the apical-basal axis of the germband, suggesting that the apical and basolateral domains display distinct behaviors. Cell rearrangements initiate at apical as well as basolateral positions, with initiation frequencies also displaying a gradient along the apical-basal axis. Analyses of cell contact angles and nonmuscle myosin II localization patterns during cell rearrangements indicate that rearrangements can be actively driven in lateral as well as in apical regions of the tissue. Following initiation, rearrangements propagate across the apical-basal axis and lateral cell contacts remodel; these events involve scutoids and other complex 3D cell shapes as intermediate states. These findings uncover novel aspects of the cell rearrangements that drive dynamic remodeling of epithelia and reveal links between rearrangements and gradients in tissue structure along the apical-basal axis.

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PRX Life 4, 013005– Published 12 January, 2026
  • Received 24 July 2024
  • Accepted 25 September 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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