A mechanical transition from tension to buckling underlies the jigsaw puzzle shape morphogenesis of histoblasts in the Drosophila epidermis

During the development of the larval Drosophila epidermis, histoblasts and epithelial cells compete for space as they grow and undergo morphological changes. This study shows that compressive forces play a key role in controlling the shape of histoblasts, leading to the buckling of their apical junctions and changing the morphology of the epidermis from straight to highly folded outlines.