Quantitative 4D analyses of epithelial folding during Drosophila gastrulation. Author Zia Khan, Yu-Chiun Wang, Eric Wieschaus, Matthias Kaschube Publication Year 2014 Type Journal Article Abstract Understanding the cellular and mechanical processes that underlie the shape changes of individual cells and their collective behaviors in a tissue during dynamic and complex morphogenetic events is currently one of the major frontiers in developmental biology. The advent of high-speed time-lapse microscopy and its use in monitoring the cellular events in fluorescently labeled developing organisms demonstrate tremendous promise in establishing detailed descriptions of these events and could potentially provide a foundation for subsequent hypothesis-driven research strategies. However, obtaining quantitative measurements of dynamic shapes and behaviors of cells and tissues in a rapidly developing metazoan embryo using time-lapse 3D microscopy remains technically challenging, with the main hurdle being the shortage of robust imaging processing and analysis tools. We have developed EDGE4D, a software tool for segmenting and tracking membrane-labeled cells using multi-photon microscopy data. Our results demonstrate that EDGE4D enables quantification of the dynamics of cell shape changes, cell interfaces and neighbor relations at single-cell resolution during a complex epithelial folding event in the early Drosophila embryo. We expect this tool to be broadly useful for the analysis of epithelial cell geometries and movements in a wide variety of developmental contexts. Keywords Animals, Drosophila melanogaster, Body Patterning, Cell Shape, Software, Epithelium, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Epithelial Cells, Gastrulation, Cell Tracking Journal Development Volume 141 Issue 14 Pages 2895-900 Date Published 07/2014 Alternate Journal Development Google ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML