Embryonic intestinal development of a 1-mm nematode, C. elegans. The life cycle of most multicellular
organisms, from C. elegans to humans, begins with a few seemingly symmetrical embryonic cells. Much of
how spatial asymmetry organizes in cells and how cells form tube-shaped organs like the intestine or blood
vessels is still unknown. Two studies propose a mechanism that brings about the asymmetric organization of
the cellular membrane from within the cell. Zhang et al. identify multiple secretory vesicle molecules that carry
the components of the specialized membrane to build the intestinal tube. Jafari et al. identify a cellular
cytoskeletal network that guides these vesicles to asymmetrically insert this specialized membrane into the
growing membrane of the intestinal tube.
Credit: Gholamali Jafari, Jia Hu, Madison Yemc, Verena Gobel