...Lei Gong; Mamta Puri; Mustafa Ünlü; Margaret Young; Katherine Robertson; Surya Viswanathan; Arun Krishnaswamy; Susan R. Dowd; Jonathan S. Minden Ventral furrow formation is a key morphogenetic event during Drosophila gastrulation that leads to the internalization of mesodermal precursors. While...

.... The invagination of the ventral furrow is caused by forces from within the prospective mesoderm (i. e. the invaginating cells) without any necessary contribution from other parts of the embryo. The events that lead to the cell shape changes mediating ventral furrow formation require the transcription of zygotic...