185 Altered Celsr1 adhesion disrupts planar cell polarity and junction asymmetry

Abstract

Collective polarization of cells along a tissue plane, referred to as planar cell polarity (PCP), is fundamental to embryonic development and tissue organization in complex, multicellular organisms. The ordered alignment of body hairs along the mammalian skin is an excellent example of PCP. PCP is regulated by the asymmetric localization of core PCP components at cell junctions bridged by atypical cadherin Celsr1. The goal of this work is to elucidate how Celsr1 mediates extracellular adhesion to coordinate functional PCP and how these activities are altered by the PCP-disrupting mutation Crash (Crsh).