Junctional E-cadherin gradients in wounds. (A) Analysis of the first 150 s after wounding reveals that the adherens junctions closer to the wound (i–iv) initially stretch in the axis parallel to the wound and this is accompanied by a decrease in E-cadherin–GFP levels. To facilitate comparison, lines with the same color have the same length and follow the color code as in Fig. 3 Aii. Asterisks indicate the wound site. Bars, 5 µm. (A′) Diagram illustrating the changes in junctional length upon wounding. Junctions perpendicular to the wound are compressed and shortened due to tissue displacement that results from wound opening, and junctions parallel to the wound increase their length. The color code in matched with the previous panel and with Fig. 3 Aii. (Bi) Quantitative analysis of junctional length and relative E-cadherin levels in consecutive rows of cells around the wound in wild-type tissue. The green dataset represents the length ratio of parallel over perpendicular junctions, whereas the purple dataset represents the E-cadherin intensity ratio of parallel over perpendicular junctions. The proximity of junctions (i–iv) to the wound edge are as in A; junctions i are the closest and iv the most distant. Upon wounding, relative cell junction length ratio increases (junction length ratio = average parallel junctions length/average perpendicular junctions length) and relative E-cadherin levels decrease, establishing a gradient that is more pronounced at the wound margin (junctions i) and more attenuated four cell rows away from the wound margin (junctions iv). Relative junction length and E-cadherin–GFP intensity are calculated relatively to the average values before wounding. Shaded areas represent the SEM for each curve. (Bii) Analysis of junctional length and relative E-cadherin levels in ROCK RNAi tissue shows that upon ROCK down-regulation tissue displacement and E-cadherin distribution are different from wild-type.