Several cell lineages migrate through the developing and adult tissues of our bodies utilising a variety of modes of motility to suit the different substrates and environments they encounter en route to their destinations. Here we describe a novel adhesion-independent mode of single cell locomotion utilised by Drosophila fat body cells - the equivalent of vertebrate adipocytes. Like their human counterpart, these large cells were previously presumed to be immotile. However, in the Drosophila pupa fat body cells appear to be motile and migrate in a directed way towards wounds by peristaltic swimming through the hemolymph. The propulsive force is generated from a wave of cortical actomyosin that travels rearwards along the length of the cell. We discuss how this swimming mode of motility overcomes the physical constraints of microscopic objects moving in fluids, how fat body cells switch on other "motility machinery" to plug the wound on arrival, and whether other cell lineages in Drosophila and other organisms may, under certain circumstances, also adopt swimming as an effective mode of migration.

中文翻译：

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游泳引起的细胞迁移：果蝇脂肪细胞是一种新的不依赖黏附运动的体内模型。

多种细胞谱系利用各种运动模式迁移到我们身体的发育和成人组织中，以适应它们在到达目的地时遇到的不同底物和环境。在这里，我们描述了果蝇脂肪​​体细胞-脊椎动物脂肪细胞的等同物利用的单细胞运动的一种新的与粘附无关的模式。像它们的人类对应物一样，这些大细胞以前被认为是不能移动的。然而，在果蝇中，脂肪体细胞似乎是运动的，并通过蠕动游过血淋巴而直接定向向伤口迁移。推动力是由沿细胞长度向后传播的皮质放线菌素波产生的。