Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 333 (6046): 1099-1100

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Arranging a Cellular Checkerboard

Wangsun Choi1, and Mark Peifer1,2

Biological patterns are all around us, ranging from the complex patterns on butterfly wings to the baroque architecture of kidney tubules. These patterns reflect the organization of millions of cell types in intricate yet reproducible ways to build tissues and organs. Even more remarkable, these patterns often arise through the self-assembly of undifferentiated cells. Understanding how this occurs is a key challenge for biologists. On page 1144 in this issue, Togashi et al. (1) implicate the interactions between nectin adhesion molecules in this process.

1 Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
2 Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

E-mail: peifer{at}unc.edu

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882