Model of convergent extension in animal morphogenesis

We argue that energy minimization can explain the pattern of cell movements in the morphogenetic process known as convergent extension provided that t he cell-cell adhesive energy has a certain type of anisotropy, which we des cribe. This single simple property suffices to cause the cell elongation, c ell alignment, and lengthening of a cellular array that characterize conver gent extension. We show that the final aspect ratio of the array of cells d epends on the anisotropy and is independent of the initial configuration an d of the degree of cell elongation.