Collective cell migration is paramount to morphogenesis and contributes to the pathogenesis of cancer. To migrate directionally and reach their site of destination, migrating cells must distinguish a front and a rear. In addition to polarizing individually, cell-cell interactions in collectively migrating cells give rise to a higher order of polarity, which allows them to move as a supracellular unit. Rather than just conferring adhesion, emerging evidence indicates that cadherin-based adherens junctions intrinsically polarize the cluster and relay mechanical signals to establish both intracellular and supracellular polarity. In this review, we discuss the various functions of adherens junctions in polarity of migrating cohorts.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a027854 | DOI Listing |
Sci Adv
May 2024
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
The ability of cells to organize into tissues with proper structure and function requires the effective coordination of proliferation, migration, polarization, and differentiation across length scales. Skeletal muscle is innately anisotropic; however, few biomaterials can emulate mechanical anisotropy to determine its influence on tissue patterning without introducing confounding topography. Here, we demonstrate that substrate stiffness anisotropy coordinates contractility-driven collective cellular dynamics resulting in C2C12 myotube alignment over millimeter-scale distances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cell Sci
March 2024
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G9, Canada.
Embryos repair wounds rapidly, with no inflammation or scarring. Embryonic wound healing is driven by the collective movement of the cells around the lesion. The cells adjacent to the wound polarize the cytoskeletal protein actin and the molecular motor non-muscle myosin II, which accumulate at the wound edge forming a supracellular cable around the wound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbioRxiv
August 2023
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, 80303, USA.
In skeletal muscle tissue, injury-related changes in stiffness activate muscle stem cells through mechanosensitive signaling pathways. Functional muscle tissue regeneration also requires the effective coordination of myoblast proliferation, migration, polarization, differentiation, and fusion across multiple length scales. Here, we demonstrate that substrate stiffness anisotropy coordinates contractility-driven collective cellular dynamics resulting in C2C12 myotube alignment over millimeter-scale distances.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOpen Biol
June 2023
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
Planar cell polarity (PCP), the coordinated orientation of structures such as cilia, mammalian hairs or insect bristles, depends on at least two molecular systems. We have argued that these two systems use similar mechanisms; each depending on a supracellular gradient of concentration that spans a field of cells. In a linked paper, we studied the Dachsous/Fat system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDev Cell
July 2023
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G9, Canada; Translational Biology and Engineering Program, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada; Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada; Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada. Electronic address:
Heart development begins with the formation of a tube as cardiac progenitors migrate from opposite sides of the embryo. Abnormal cardiac progenitor movements cause congenital heart defects. However, the mechanisms of cell migration during early heart development remain poorly understood.
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