Cell behaviour during postembryonic pattern regulation in the insect abdomen (Oncopeltus fasciatus). II....

Cells from different levels in the anteroposterior axis of an abdominal segment of Oncopeltus were confronted by scraping away the strip of epidermis that separated these levels. The cells migrate over the wound and meet in the centre. The subsequent behaviour of the epidermal cells was followed by preparing whole mounts of integument at various times after confrontation. These operations may lead to cell division and an alteration in cell shape at the confrontation site. The intensity of the induced cell behaviour pattern depends on which levels in the segment are confronted and the evidence suggests that it is directly related to the magnitude of the difference in positional values between confronted cells. The results can be explained by a nonlinear gradient of positional values within the segment with a crowding of values in the posterior region. It is also shown that segment border formation requires the confrontation of cells with a near maximum possible difference in positional values.