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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 47: Cell Adhesion

BP 47.1: Hauptvortrag

Donnerstag, 23. März 2017, 09:30–10:00, ZEU 250

Mechanotransduction in Collective Cell Migration — •Joachim Spatz — Max Planck Institut for Medical Research, Dept. Cellular Biophysics, Jahnstr. 29, 69120 Heidelberg

The collective movement of epithelial cells drives essential multicellular organization during various fundamental physiological processes like embryonic morphogenesis, cancer, and wound healing. Two hallmarks of collective behavior in migrating cohesive epithelial cell sheets is the emergence of so called leader cells and the communication between adjacent cells to move correlated to each other. Here we discuss these two phenomena: 1. The geometry-based cue imposed by the matrix environment like local curvature of the collective*s perimeter is capable of triggering leader cell formation and promoting enhanced motility at defined positions. Cytoskeletal tension was found to be important for geometry induced leader cell formation. Together our findings suggest that high curvature leads to locally increased stress accumulation, mediated via cell-substrate interaction as well as via cytoskeleton tension. The stress accumulation in turn enhances the probability of leader cell formation as well as cell motility. 2. Within this cohesive group each individual cell correlates its movement with that of its neighbours. We investigate the distinct molecular mechanism that links intercellular forces to collective cell movements in migrating epithelia. More specifically, we identified the molecular mechanism whereby Merlin, a tumor suppressor protein and Hippo pathway regulator that functions as a mechanochemical transducer, coordinates collective migration of tens of hundreds of cells.