Vertebrate kidney tubules elongate using a planar cell polarity-dependent, rosette-based mechanism of convergent extension

Gerd Walz and colleagues use in vivo imaging in Xenopus laevis embryos and show that kidney tubule elongation occurs by a multicellular rosette-based mechanism, which has previously only been observed in Drosophila melanogaster. These data show that rosette-based cell intercalation is a highly conserved cellular mechanism during epithelial morphogenesis.