Cease-fire at the leading edge: New perspectives on actin filament branching, debranching, and cross-linking (original) (raw)
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A role for actin arcs in the leading-edge advance of migrating cells
Nature Cell Biology, 2011
The migration of epithelial cells requires coordination of two actin modules at the leading edge: one in the lamellipodium and one in the lamella. How the two modules connect mechanistically to regulate directed edge motion is not understood. Using a combination of live-cell imaging and photoactivation approaches, we demonstrate that the actin network of the lamellipodium evolves spatio-temporally into the lamella. This occurs during the retraction phase of edge motion when myosin II redistributes to the cell edge and condenses the lamellipodial-actin into an arc-like bundle (i.e., actin arc) parallel to the edge. The newly formed actin arc moves rearward and couples to focal adhesions as it enters the lamella. We propose net edge extension occurs by nascent focal adhesions advancing the site at which new actin arcs slow down and form the base of the next protrusion event. The actin arc thus serves as a structural element underlying the temporal and spatial connection between the lamellipodium and lamella to drive directed cell motion.
Regulation of directional cell migration by membrane-induced actin bundling
Journal of Cell Science, 2013
During embryonic development and in metastatic cancers, cells detach from the epithelium and migrate with persistent directionality. Directional cell migration is also crucial for the regeneration and maintenance of the epithelium and an impaired ability of epithelial cells for directional migration are linked to chronic inflammatory diseases. Despite its significance, the mechanisms controlling epithelial cell migration remain poorly understood. Villin is an epithelial cell specific actin modifying protein that regulates epithelial cell plasticity and motility. In motile cells villin is associated with the highly branched as well as the unbranched actin filaments of lamellipodia and filopodia, respectively. In this study we demonstrate for the first time that villin regulates directionally persistent epithelial cell migration. Functional characterization of wild-type and mutant villin proteins reveals that villin's ability to self-associate and bundle actin as well as its direc...
1 Regulation of directional cell migration by membrane-induced actin bundling
2016
During embryonic development and in metastatic cancers, cells detach from the epithelium and migrate with persistent directionality. Directional cell migration is also crucial for the regeneration and maintenance of the epithelium and an impaired ability of epithelial cells for directional migration are linked to chronic inflammatory diseases. Despite its significance, the mechanisms controlling epithelial cell migration remain poorly understood. Villin is an epithelial cell specific actin modifying protein that regulates epithelial cell plasticity and motility. In motile cells villin is associated with the highly branched as well as the unbranched actin filaments of lamellipodia and filopodia, respectively. In this study we demonstrate for the first time that villin regulates directionally persistent epithelial cell migration. Functional characterization of wild-type and mutant villin proteins reveals that villin’s ability to self-associate and bundle actin as well as its direct in...
Actin dynamics in cell migration
Essays In Biochemistry
Cell migration is an essential process, both in unicellular organisms such as amoeba and as individual or collective motility in highly developed multicellular organisms like mammals. It is controlled by a variety of activities combining protrusive and contractile forces, normally generated by actin filaments. Here, we summarize actin filament assembly and turnover processes, and how respective biochemical activities translate into different protrusion types engaged in migration. These actin-based plasma membrane protrusions include actin-related protein 2/3 complex-dependent structures such as lamellipodia and membrane ruffles, filopodia as well as plasma membrane blebs. We also address observed antagonisms between these protrusion types, and propose a model – also inspired by previous literature – in which a complex balance between specific Rho GTPase signaling pathways dictates the protrusion mechanism employed by cells. Furthermore, we revisit published work regarding the fascin...
Imaging the Molecular Machines That Power Cell Migration
Methods in Molecular Biology, 2018
Animal cell migration constitutes a complex process involving a multitude of forces generated and maintained by the actin cytoskeleton. Dynamic changes of the cell surface, for instance to effect cell edge protrusion, are at the core of initiating migratory processes, both in tissue culture models and whole animals. Here we sketch different aspects of imaging representative molecular constituents in such actin-driven processes, which power and regulate the polymerisation of actin filaments into bundles and networks, constituting the building blocks of such protrusions. The examples presented illustrate both the diversity of subcellular distributions of distinct molecular components, according to their function, and the complexity of dynamic changes in protrusion size, shape, and/or orientation in 3D. Considering these dynamics helps mechanistically connecting subcellular distributions of molecular machines driving protrusion and migration with their biochemical function.
Emergence of Large-Scale Cell Morphology and Movement from Local Actin Filament Growth Dynamics
PLoS Biology, 2007
Variations in cell migration and morphology are consequences of changes in underlying cytoskeletal organization and dynamics. We investigated how these large-scale cellular events emerge as direct consequences of small-scale cytoskeletal molecular activities. Because the properties of the actin cytoskeleton can be modulated by actinremodeling proteins, we quantitatively examined how one such family of proteins, enabled/vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (Ena/VASP), affects the migration and morphology of epithelial fish keratocytes. Keratocytes generally migrate persistently while exhibiting a characteristic smooth-edged ''canoe'' shape, but may also exhibit less regular morphologies and less persistent movement. When we observed that the smooth-edged canoe keratocyte morphology correlated with enrichment of Ena/VASP at the leading edge, we mislocalized and overexpressed Ena/VASP proteins and found that this led to changes in the morphology and movement persistence of cells within a population. Thus, local changes in actin filament dynamics due to Ena/VASP activity directly caused changes in cell morphology, which is coupled to the motile behavior of keratocytes. We also characterized the range of natural cell-to-cell variation within a population by using measurable morphological and behavioral features-cell shape, leading-edge shape, filamentous actin (F-actin) distribution, cell speed, and directional persistence-that we have found to correlate with each other to describe a spectrum of coordinated phenotypes based on Ena/VASP enrichment at the leading edge. This spectrum stretched from smooth-edged, canoe-shaped keratocytes-which had VASP highly enriched at their leading edges and migrated fast with straight trajectories-to more irregular, rounder cells migrating slower with less directional persistence and low levels of VASP at their leading edges. We developed a mathematical model that accounts for these coordinated cell-shape and behavior phenotypes as large-scale consequences of kinetic contributions of VASP to actin filament growth and protection from capping at the leading edge. This work shows that the local effects of actinremodeling proteins on cytoskeletal dynamics and organization can manifest as global modifications of the shape and behavior of migrating cells and that mathematical modeling can elucidate these large-scale cell behaviors from knowledge of detailed multiscale protein interactions. Citation: Lacayo CI, Pincus Z, VanDuijn MM, Wilson CA, Fletcher DA, et al. (2007) Emergence of large-scale cell morphology and movement from local actin filament growth dynamics. PLoS Biol 5(9): e233.
Mechanical Regulation of Actin Network Dynamics in Migrating Cells
Journal of Biomechanical Science and Engineering, 2010
Cell migration is fundamental to various physiological processes, including metastasis, wound healing and tissue development. The complex processes involved in cell migration; polymerization, adhesion, and retraction, are mediated by highly orchestrated structure-function interactions that occur within the actin cytoskeletal structure. Thus understanding how migrating cells regulate the global dynamics of their cytoskeletal components, which result from rather localized protein-protein interactions, is fundamental to elucidating the mechanisms of cell motility. The objective of this review is to explore the mechanical regulation of actin network dynamics in migrating cells, and to discuss its regulatory role in cell migration. Specifically, we examine the various mechanical forces involved in cell migration, and how they couple with biomechanical factors to spatiotemporally regulate the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton during cell motility. Two aspects of actin network dynamics are addressed, namely, network turnover by polymerization and depolymerization, and network flow resulting from actomyosin activity. We begin by highlighting the fundamental features of actin network dynamics in migrating cells. We then examine the coupling relationship between actin network flow and traction forces, as well as the mechanism underlying the regulation of traction forces by actin network flow. Finally, we integrate the various motility processes into a mechanical pathway in order to elucidate the importance of mechanical regulation of actin network dynamics to cell migration.
Mechanical Integration of Actin and Adhesion Dynamics in Cell Migration
Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 2010
Directed cell migration is a physical process that requires dramatic changes in cell shape and adhesion to the extracellular matrix. For efficient movement, these processes must be spatiotemporally coordinated. To a large degree, the morphological changes and physical forces that occur during migration are generated by a dynamic filamentous actin (F-actin) cytoskeleton. Adhesion is regulated by dynamic assemblies of structural and signaling proteins that couple the F-actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Here, we review current knowledge of the dynamic organization of the F-actin cytoskeleton in cell migration and the regulation of focal adhesion assembly and disassembly with an emphasis on how mechanical and biochemical signaling between these two systems regulate the coordination of physical processes in cell migration.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2023
Cells migrate by adapting their leading-edge behaviours to heterogeneous extracellular microenvironments (ECMs) during cancer invasions and immune responses. Yet it remains poorly understood how such complicated dynamic behaviours emerge from millisecond-scale assembling activities of protein molecules, which are hard to probe experimentally. To address this gap, we established a spatiotemporal "resistance-adaptive propulsion" theory based on the protein interactions between Arp2/3 complexes and polymerizing actin filaments, and a multiscale dynamic modelling system spanning from molecular proteins to the cell. Combining spatiotemporal simulations with experiments, we quantitatively find that cells can accurately self-adapt propulsive forces to overcome heterogeneous ECMs via a resistance-triggered positive feedback mechanism, dominated by polymerization-induced actin filament bending and the bending-regulated actin-Arp2/3 binding. However, for high resistance regions, resistance triggered a negative feedback, hindering branched filament assembly, which adapts cellular morphologies to circumnavigate the obstacles. Strikingly, the synergy of the two opposite feedbacks not only empowers cells with both powerful and flexible migratory capabilities to deal with complex ECMs, but also endows cells to use their intracellular proteins efficiently. In addition, we identify that the nature of cell migration velocity depending on ECM history stems from the inherent temporal hysteresis of cytoskeleton remodelling. We also quantitatively show that directional cell migration is dictated by the competition between the local stiffness of ECMs and the local polymerizing rate of actin network caused by chemotactic cues. Our results reveal that it is the polymerization force-regulated actin filament-Arp2/3 complex binding interaction that dominates self-adaptive cell migrations in complex ECMs, and we provide a predictive theory and a spatiotemporal multiscale modelling system at the protein level. .