Appropriate tension sensitivity of α-catenin ensures rounding morphogenesis of epithelial spheroids

Cell Structure and Function

article

Ryosuke Nishimura¹  Kagayaki Kato²  Misako Saida³  Yasuhiro Kamei³  Masahiro Takeda⁵  Hiromi Miyoshi⁵  Yutaka Yamagata⁵  Yu Amano⁸  Shigenobu Yonemura¹ 

[1] Department of Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Tokushima University;Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems ,(ExCELLS), National Institutes of Natural Sciences;Spectrography and Bioimaging Facility, National Institute for Basic Biology;Department of Basic Biology, School of Life Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies;Ultra High Precision Optics Technology Team/Advanced Manufacturing Support Team;Center for Advanced Photonics;Applied Mechanobiology Laboratory, Faculty of Systems Design, Tokyo Metropolitan University;Department of Bioscience, Kwansei Gakuin University;Ultrastructural Research Team, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research

关键词: α-catenin;    vinculin;    adherens junction;    morphogenesis;    mechanotransduction;   

DOI  :  10.1247/csf.22014

学科分类：分子生物学，细胞生物学和基因

来源: Japan Society for Cell Biology

【 摘 要 】

The adherens junction (AJ) is an actin filament-anchoring junction. It plays a central role in epithelial morphogenesis through cadherin-based recognition and adhesion among cells. The stability and plasticity of AJs are required for the morphogenesis. An actin-binding α-catenin is an essential component of the cadherin-catenin complex and functions as a tension transducer that changes its conformation and induces AJ development in response to tension. Despite much progress in understanding molecular mechanisms of tension sensitivity of α-catenin, its significance on epithelial morphogenesis is still unknown. Here we show that the tension sensitivity of α-catenin is essential for epithelial cells to form round spheroids through proper multicellular rearrangement. Using a novel in vitro suspension culture model, we found that epithelial cells form round spheroids even from rectangular-shaped cell masses with high aspect ratios without using high tension and that increased tension sensitivity of α-catenin affected this morphogenesis. Analyses of AJ formation and cellular tracking during rounding morphogenesis showed cellular rearrangement, probably through AJ remodeling. The rearrangement occurs at the cell mass level, but not single-cell level. Hypersensitive α-catenin mutant-expressing cells did not show cellular rearrangement at the cell mass level, suggesting that the appropriate tension sensitivity of α-catenin is crucial for the coordinated round morphogenesis.

【 授权许可】

Unknown