Complex Polarity: Building Multicellular Tissues Through Apical Membrane Traffic

Abstract

The formation of distinct subdomains of the cell surface is crucial for multicellular organism development. The most striking example of this is apical-basal polarization. What is much less appreciated is that underpinning an asymmetric cell surface is an equally dramatic intracellular endosome rearrangement. Here, we review the interplay between classical cell polarity proteins and membrane trafficking pathways, and discuss how this marriage gives rise to cell polarization. We focus on those mechanisms that regulate apical polarization, as this is providing a number of insights into how membrane traffic and polarity are regulated at the tissue level.

Keywords: 3D culture; Crumbs; Podocalyxin; Rab GTPases; apical transport; cell polarity; endocytosis; epithelia; exocytosis; lumen formation; morphogenesis; trafficking.