From the editors | Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe Studying the movements of single cells has enabled great advances in our understanding of the general mechanisms that underlie cell

migration. Effective cell migration requires the integration of localized and transient signals with changes in cellular architecture, cell adhesion and asymmetric polarization. As a result,

cells move by extending protrusions at their front and retracting their trailing end. Although the collective migration of cells relies on similar guidance cues and protrusions to those

used by single migratory cells, the mechanisms that coordinate this type of migration are less clear. However, Peter Friedl and Darren Gilmour (page 445) explain that some general principles

can be drawn from the comparison of how diverse cellular functions and behaviours combine to produce multicellular migration during embryonic morphogenesis, wound repair and cancer.

Collective cell migration differs from single cell migration in that cells remain physically and functionally connected as they move, they coordinate their polarization and cytoskeletal

activity and they structurally modify tissue along their migration path. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution

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Contact customer support RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE From the editors. _Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol_ 10, 437 (2009).

https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2725 Download citation * Issue Date: July 2009 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2725 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to

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