Cell migration: from tissue culture to embryos

Cell migration is a fundamental process that occurs during embryo development. Classic studies using in vitro culture systems have been instrumental in dissecting the principles of cell motility and highlighting how cells make use of topographical features of the substrate, cell-cell contacts, and chemical and physical environmental signals to direct their locomotion. Here, we review the guidance principles of in vitro cell locomotion and examine how they control directed cell migration in vivo during development. We focus on developmental examples in which individual guidance mechanisms have been clearly dissected, and for which the interactions among guidance cues have been explored. We also discuss how the migratory behaviours elicited by guidance mechanisms generate the stereotypical patterns of migration that shape tissues in the developing embryo.