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During vertebrate gastrulation, Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling orchestrates polarized cell behaviors underlying convergence and extension (C&E) movements to narrow embryonic tissues mediolaterally and lengthen them anteroposteriorly. Here, we have identified Gpr125, an adhesion G protein-coupled receptor, as a novel modulator of the Wnt/PCP signaling system. Excess Gpr125 impaired C&E movements and the underlying cell and molecular polarities. Reduced Gpr125 function exacerbated the C&E and facial branchiomotor neuron (FBMN) migration defects of embryos with reduced Wnt/PCP signaling. At the molecular level, Gpr125 recruited Dishevelled to the cell membrane, a prerequisite for Wnt/PCP activation. Moreover, Gpr125 and Dvl mutually clustered one another to form discrete membrane subdomains, and the Gpr125 intracellular domain directly interacted with Dvl in pull-down assays. Intriguingly, Dvl and Gpr125 were able to recruit a subset of PCP components into membrane subdomains, suggesting that Gpr125 may modulate the composition of Wnt/PCP membrane complexes. Our study reveals a role for Gpr125 in PCP-mediated processes and provides mechanistic insight into Wnt/PCP signaling.

Planar cell polarization entails establishment of cellular asymmetries within the tissue plane. An evolutionarily conserved planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling system employs intra- and intercellular feedback interactions between its core components, including Frizzled, Van Gogh, Flamingo, Prickle, and Dishevelled, to establish their characteristic asymmetric intracellular distributions and coordinate planar polarity of cell populations. By translating global patterning information into asymmetries of cell membranes and intracellular organelles, PCP signaling coordinates morphogenetic behaviors of individual cells and cell populations with the embryonic polarity. In vertebrates, by polarizing cilia in the node/Kupffer's vesicle, PCP signaling links the anteroposterior to left-right embryonic polarity.

During vertebrate gastrulation, convergence and extension movements elongate embryonic tissues anteroposteriorly and narrow them mediolaterally. Planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling is essential for mediolateral cell elongation underlying these movements, but how this polarity arises is poorly understood. We analyzed the elongation, orientation and migration behaviors of lateral mesodermal cells undergoing convergence and extension movements in wild-type zebrafish embryos and mutants for the Wnt/PCP core component Vangl2 (Trilobite). We demonstrate that Vangl2 function is required at the time when cells transition to a highly elongated and mediolaterally aligned body. vangl2 mutant cells fail to undergo this transition and to migrate along a straight path with high net speed towards the dorsal midline. Instead, vangl2 mutant cells exhibit an anterior/animal pole bias in cell body alignment and movement direction, suggesting that PCP signaling promotes effective dorsal migration in part by suppressing anterior/animalward cell polarity and movement. Endogenous Vangl2 protein accumulates at the plasma membrane of mesenchymal converging cells at the time its function is required for mediolaterally polarized cell behavior. Heterochronic cell transplantations demonstrated that Vangl2 cell membrane accumulation is stage dependent and regulated by both intrinsic factors and an extracellular signal, which is distinct from PCP signaling or other gastrulation regulators, including BMP and Nodals. Moreover, mosaic expression of fusion proteins revealed enrichment of Vangl2 at the anterior cell edges of highly mediolaterally elongated cells. These results demonstrate that the dynamic Vangl2 intracellular distribution is coordinated with and necessary for the changes in convergence and extension cell behaviors during gastrulation.

Vertebrate gastrulation entails massive cell movements that establish and shape the germ layers. During gastrulation, the individual cell behaviors are strictly coordinated in time and space by various signaling pathways. These pathways instruct the cells about proliferation, shape, fate and migration into proper location. Convergence and extension (C&E) movements during vertebrate gastrulation play a major role in the shaping of the embryonic body. In vertebrates, the Wnt/Planar Cell Polarity (Wnt/PCP) pathway is a key regulator of C&E movements, essential for several polarized cell behaviors, including directed cell migration, and mediolateral and radial cell intercalation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the acquisition of planar cell polarity by highly dynamic mesenchymal cells engaged in C&E is still not well understood. Each cell in the embryo needs spatial and temporal information, which are required for its appropriate behavior, and the Wnt/PCP pathway provides this information by a yet unclear mechanism. Here we review new evidence implicating the Wnt/PCP pathway in specific cell behaviors required for C&E during zebrafish gastrulation, in comparison to other vertebrates. We also discuss findings on the molecular regulation and the interaction of the Wnt/PCP pathway with other signaling pathways during gastrulation movements.

International audience; The antero-posterior dispersion of clonally related cells is a prominent feature of axis elongation in vertebrate embryos. Two major models have been proposed: (i) the intercalation of cells by convergent-extension and (ii) the sequential production of the forming axis by stem cells. The relative importance of both of these cell behaviors during the long period of elongation is poorly understood. Here, we use a combination of single cell lineage tracing in the mouse embryo, computer modeling and confocal video-microscopy of GFP labeled cells in the chick embryo to address the mechanisms involved in the antero-posterior dispersion of clones. In the mouse embryo, clones appear as clusters of labeled cells separated by intervals of non-labeled cells. The distribution of intervals between clonally related clusters correlates with a statistical model of a stem cell mode of growth only in the posterior spinal cord. A direct comparison with published data in zebrafish suggests that elongation of the anterior spinal cord involves similar intercalation processes in different vertebrate species. Time-lapse analyses of GFP labeled cells in cultured chick embryos suggest a decrease in the size of the neural progenitor pool and indicate that the dispersion of clones involves ordered changes of neighborhood relationships. We propose that a pre-existing stem zone of growth becomes predominant to form the posterior half of the axis. This temporal change in tissue-level motion is discussed in terms of the clonal and genetic continuities during axis elongation.