Wave Propagation of Junctional Remodeling in Collective Cell Movement of Epithelial Tissue: Numerical Simulation Study.

During animal development, epithelial cells forming a monolayer sheet move collectively to achieve the morphogenesis of epithelial tissues. One driving mechanism of such collective cell movement is junctional remodeling, which is found in the process of clockwise rotation of male terminalia during metamorphosis. However, it still remains unknown how the motions of cells are spatiotemporally organized for collective movement by this mechanism.