Functional tissues not only polarize their epithelia in the apical-basolate
ral axis, but also often display a polarity within the plane of the epithel
ium, In Drosophila, all adult structures are derived from epithelia called
imaginal discs and display planar polarization; the eye and the wing are pa
rticularly well suited for analysis. Studies of their polarization have ide
ntified several conserved genes that regulate both nuclear signaling and cy
toskeletal architecture. In particular, the Frizzled (Fz) receptor has been
identified as a key component of polarity establishment in all tissues. Th
e Fz signaling pathway and associated events are beginning to be unraveled,
shedding light on a novel Wnt/Fz signaling cascade.