Complex structures derived from multiple tissue types are challenging to study in vivo, and our knowledge of how cells from different tissues are coordinated is limited. Model organisms have proven invaluable for improving our understanding of how chemical and mechanical cues between cells from two different tissues can govern specific morphogenetic events. Here we used Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to show how cells from three different tissues are coordinated to give rise to the anterior lumen. While some aspects of pharyngeal morphogenesis have been well-described, it is less clear how cells from the pharynx, epidermis and neuroblasts coordinate to define the location of the anterior lumen and supporting structures. Using various microscopy and software approaches, we define the movements and patterns of these cells during anterior morphogenesis. Projections from the anterior-most pharyngeal cells (arcade cells) provide the first visible markers for the location of the future lumen, and facilitate patterning of the surrounding neuroblasts. These neuroblast patterns control the rate of migration of the anterior epidermal cells, whereas the epidermal cells ultimately reinforce and control the position of the future lumen, as they must join with the pharyngeal cells for their epithelialization. Our studies are the first to characterize anterior morphogenesis in C. elegans in detail and should lay the framework for identifying how these different patterns are controlled at the molecular level.

来自多种组织类型的复杂结构在体内研究具有挑战性，并且我们对来自不同组织的细胞如何协调的了解是有限的。模型生物已被证明对于提高我们对来自两个不同组织的细胞之间的化学和机械线索如何控制特定形态发生事件的理解非常有价值。在这里，我们使用秀丽隐杆线虫作为模型系统来展示来自三种不同组织的细胞如何协调以产生前腔。虽然咽部形态发生的某些方面已经得到了很好的描述，但尚不清楚咽部、表皮和神经母细胞的细胞如何协调来定义前腔和支撑结构的位置。使用各种显微镜和软件方法，我们定义了这些细胞在前部形态发生过程中的运动和模式。最前部咽细胞（拱廊细胞）的投射为未来管腔的位置提供了第一个可见的标记，并促进周围神经母细胞的模式化。这些神经母细胞模式控制前表皮细胞的迁移速率，而表皮细胞最终增强并控制未来管腔的位置，因为它们必须与咽细胞结合才能上皮化。我们的研究首次详细描述了秀丽隐杆线虫的前部形态发生，并为确定如何在分子水平上控制这些不同的模式奠定了框架。