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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Imaging Cell Shape Change in Living Drosophila Embryos
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Published on: March 30, 2011

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Passive mechanical forces control cell-shape change during Drosophila ventral furrow formation

Oleg Polyakov1, Bing He2, Michael Swan2

  • 1Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.

Biophysical Journal
|August 21, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Drosophila gastrulation involves cell shape changes to form a ventral furrow. This study shows that maintaining cell volume and specific membrane stiffness are key to this process, driven by apical constriction.

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