This image for day 103 of #LMB365 shows the denticles on the ventral side of a Drosophila embryo cuticle taken by differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. The denticles form segmentally repeated belts in the embryo and can have different sizes, shape and orientation. The pattern results from the spatially organised activation of several signalling pathways during embryogenesis and this can serve as a physiological readout for changes in signalling pathways including planar polarity. Mariann Bienz’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division is using this to study Wnt signalling components which are involved in the development of cancer.
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
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