Vertebrate axis patterning depends on cell and extracellular matrix (ECM) repositioning and proper cell-ECM interactions. However, there are few in vivo data addressing how large-scale tissue deformations are coordinated with the motion of local cell ensembles or the displacement of ECM constituents. Combining the methods of dynamic imaging and experimental biology allows both cell and ECM fate-mapping to be correlated with ongoing tissue deformations. These fate-mapping studies suggest that the axial ECM components "move" both as a composite meshwork and as autonomous particles, depending on the length scale being examined. Cells are also part of this composite, and subject to passive displacements resulting from tissue deformations. However, in contrast to the ECM, cells are self-propelled. The net result of cell and ECM displacements, along with proper ECM-cell adhesion, is the assembly of new tissue architecture. Data herein show that disruption of normal cell-ECM interactions during axis formation results in developmental abnormalities and a disorganization of the ECM. Our goal in characterizing the global displacement patterns of axial cells and ECM is to provide critical information regarding existing strain fields in the segmental plate and paraxial mesoderm. Deducing the mechanical influences on cell behavior is critical, if we are to understand vertebral axis patterning. Supplementary material for this article is available online at http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/suppmat/1542-975X/suppmat/72/v72.266.html.
(c) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.