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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDDevelopmental cell

Planar cell polarity aligns epithelial migration to coordinate intestinal architecture and functional zonation

  • Rebecca F Lee1
  • Dami Oluwatade1
  • Peri Wivell1
  • Kathryn M Citrin2,3
  • Zhang Wen1,4
  • Brisa Palikuqi2,3
  • Kaelyn Sumigray1,2,5
5 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Genetics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
  2. 2Yale Stem Cell Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
  3. 3Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
  4. 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
  5. 5Yale Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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Abstract

Epithelial tissues must coordinate collective migration with functional specialization to maintain organ integrity, but the mechanisms linking these processes remain unknown. Here, we define the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway as a master coordinator that translates molecular asymmetry into tissue-scale organization during postnatal intestinal development. We show that PCP drives the developmental transition from random to linear epithelial migration by aligning actin-based basal protrusions and polarizing basement membrane integrins. This creates coherent cellular streams that form characteristic villus ribbons. Strikingly, we discover that disrupting this migration coherence directly perturbs functional zonation, as loss of PCP causes disordered migration that expands specialized metabolic domains beyond their spatial boundaries. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized principle of epithelial organization: directional collective migration actively maintains functional compartmentalization, establishing migration pattern as a fundamental determinant of how tissues preserve specialized function during continuous turnover.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{lee2026planar,
  title = {{Planar cell polarity aligns epithelial migration to coordinate intestinal architecture and functional zonation}},
  author = {Rebecca F Lee and Dami Oluwatade and Peri Wivell and Kathryn M Citrin and Zhang Wen and Brisa Palikuqi and Kaelyn Sumigray},
  journal = {Developmental cell},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.devcel.2026.10.001},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2026.10.001},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Planar cell polarity aligns epithelial migration to coordinate intestinal architecture and functional zonation
AU  - Rebecca F Lee
AU  - Dami Oluwatade
AU  - Peri Wivell
AU  - Kathryn M Citrin
AU  - Zhang Wen
AU  - Brisa Palikuqi
AU  - Kaelyn Sumigray
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - Developmental cell
DO  - 10.1016/j.devcel.2026.10.001
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2026.10.001
AB  - Epithelial tissues must coordinate collective migration with functional specialization to maintain organ integrity, but the mechanisms linking these processes remain unknown. Here, we define the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway as a master coordinator that translates molecular asymmetry into tissue-scale organization during postnatal intestinal development. We show that PCP drives the developmental transition from random to linear epithelial migration by aligning actin-based basal protrusions and polarizing basement membrane integrins. This creates coherent cellular streams that form characteristic villus ribbons. Strikingly, we discover that disrupting this migration coherence directly perturbs functional zonation, as loss of PCP causes disordered migration that expands specialized metabolic domains beyond their spatial boundaries. These findings reveal a previously unrecognized principle of epithelial organization: directional collective migration actively maintains functional compartmentalization, establishing migration pattern as a fundamental determinant of how tissues preserve specialized function during continuous turnover.
SN  - 1534-5807
SN  - 1878-1551
ER  -