Seeing around corners: Cells solve mazes and respond at a distance using attractant breakdown.

During development and metastasis, cells migrate large distances through complex environments. Migration is often guided by chemotaxis, but simple chemoattractant gradients between a source and sink cannot direct cells over such ranges. We describe how self-generated gradients, created by cells locally degrading attractant, allow single cells to navigate long, tortuous paths and make accurate choices between live channels and dead ends. This allows cells to solve complex mazes efficiently. Cells' accuracy at finding live channels was determined by attractant diffusivity, cell speed, and path complexity. Manipulating these parameters directed cells in mathematically predictable ways; specific combinations can even actively misdirect them. We propose that the length and complexity of many long-range migratory processes, including inflammation and germ cell migration, means that self-generated gradients are needed for successful navigation.

Cell-substrate adhesion drives Scar/WAVE activation and phosphorylation by a Ste20-family kinase, which controls pseudopod lifetime.

The Scar/WAVE complex is the principal catalyst of pseudopod and lamellipod formation. Here we show that Scar/WAVE's proline-rich domain is polyphosphorylated after the complex is activated. Blocking Scar/WAVE activation stops phosphorylation in both Dictyostelium and mammalian cells, implying that phosphorylation modulates pseudopods after they have been formed, rather than controlling whether they are initiated. Unexpectedly, phosphorylation is not promoted by chemotactic signaling but is greatly stimulated by cell:substrate adhesion and diminished when cells deadhere. Phosphorylation-deficient or phosphomimetic Scar/WAVE mutants are both normally functional and rescue the phenotype of knockout cells, demonstrating that phosphorylation is dispensable for activation and actin regulation. However, pseudopods and patches of phosphorylation-deficient Scar/WAVE last substantially longer in mutants, altering the dynamics and size of pseudopods and lamellipods and thus changing migration speed. Scar/WAVE phosphorylation does not require ERK2 in Dictyostelium or mammalian cells. However, the MAPKKK homologue SepA contributes substantially-sepA mutants have less steady-state phosphorylation, which does not increase in response to adhesion. The mutants also behave similarly to cells expressing phosphorylation-deficient Scar, with longer-lived pseudopods and patches of Scar recruitment. We conclude that pseudopod engagement with substratum is more important than extracellular signals at regulating Scar/WAVE's activity and that phosphorylation acts as a pseudopod timer by promoting Scar/WAVE turnover.

WASP Restricts Active Rac to Maintain Cells' Front-Rear Polarization.

Efficient motility requires polarized cells, with pseudopods at the front and a retracting rear. Polarization is maintained by restricting the pseudopod catalyst, active Rac, to the front. Here, we show that the actin nucleation-promoting factor Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) contributes to maintenance of front-rear polarity by controlling localization and cellular levels of active Rac. Dictyostelium cells lacking WASP inappropriately activate Rac at the rear, which affects their polarity and speed. WASP's Cdc42 and Rac interacting binding ("CRIB") motif has been thought to be essential for its activation. However, we show that the CRIB motif's biological role is unexpectedly complex. WASP CRIB mutants are no longer able to restrict Rac activity to the front, and cannot generate new pseudopods when SCAR/WAVE is absent. Overall levels of Rac activity also increase when WASP is unable to bind to Rac. However, WASP without a functional CRIB domain localizes normally at clathrin pits during endocytosis, and activates Arp2/3 complex. Similarly, chemical inhibition of Rac does not affect WASP localization or activation at sites of endocytosis. Thus, the interaction between small GTPases and WASP is more complex than previously thought-Rac regulates a subset of WASP functions, but WASP reciprocally restricts active Rac through its CRIB motif.

Fam49/CYRI interacts with Rac1 and locally suppresses protrusions.

Actin-based protrusions are reinforced through positive feedback, but it is unclear what restricts their size, or limits positive signals when they retract or split. We identify an evolutionarily conserved regulator of actin-based protrusion: CYRI (CYFIP-related Rac interactor) also known as Fam49 (family of unknown function 49). CYRI binds activated Rac1 via a domain of unknown function (DUF1394) shared with CYFIP, defining DUF1394 as a Rac1-binding module. CYRI-depleted cells have broad lamellipodia enriched in Scar/WAVE, but reduced protrusion-retraction dynamics. Pseudopods induced by optogenetic Rac1 activation in CYRI-depleted cells are larger and longer lived. Conversely, CYRI overexpression suppresses recruitment of active Scar/WAVE to the cell edge, resulting in short-lived, unproductive protrusions. CYRI thus focuses protrusion signals and regulates pseudopod complexity by inhibiting Scar/WAVE-induced actin polymerization. It thus behaves like a 'local inhibitor' as predicted in widely accepted mathematical models, but not previously identified in cells. CYRI therefore regulates chemotaxis, cell migration and epithelial polarization by controlling the polarity and plasticity of protrusions.

The trimeric coiled-coil HSBP1 protein promotes WASH complex assembly at centrosomes.

The Arp2/3 complex generates branched actin networks that exert pushing forces onto different cellular membranes. WASH complexes activate Arp2/3 complexes at the surface of endosomes and thereby fission transport intermediates containing endocytosed receptors, such as α5ß1 integrins. How WASH complexes are assembled in the cell is unknown. Here, we identify the small coiled-coil protein HSBP1 as a factor that specifically promotes the assembly of a ternary complex composed of CCDC53, WASH, and FAM21 by dissociating the CCDC53 homotrimeric precursor. HSBP1 operates at the centrosome, which concentrates the building blocks. HSBP1 depletion in human cancer cell lines and in Dictyostelium amoebae phenocopies WASH depletion, suggesting a critical role of the ternary WASH complex for WASH functions. HSBP1 is required for the development of focal adhesions and of cell polarity. These defects impair the migration and invasion of tumor cells. Overexpression of HSBP1 in breast tumors is associated with increased levels of WASH complexes and with poor prognosis for patients.

LPP3 mediates self-generation of chemotactic LPA gradients by melanoma cells.

Melanoma cells steer out of tumours using self-generated lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) gradients. The cells break down LPA, which is present at high levels around the tumours, creating a dynamic gradient that is low in the tumour and high outside. They then migrate up this gradient, creating a complex and evolving outward chemotactic stimulus. Here, we introduce a new assay for self-generated chemotaxis, and show that raising LPA levels causes a delay in migration rather than loss of chemotactic efficiency. Knockdown of the lipid phosphatase LPP3 - but not of its homologues LPP1 or LPP2 - diminishes the cell's ability to break down LPA. This is specific for chemotactically active LPAs, such as the 18:1 and 20:4 species. Inhibition of autotaxin-mediated LPA production does not diminish outward chemotaxis, but loss of LPP3-mediated LPA breakdown blocks it. Similarly, in both 2D and 3D invasion assays, knockdown of LPP3 diminishes the ability of melanoma cells to invade. Our results demonstrate that LPP3 is the key enzyme in the breakdown of LPA by melanoma cells, and confirm the importance of attractant breakdown in LPA-mediated cell steering.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.

Abi is required for modulation and stability but not localization or activation of the SCAR/WAVE complex.

The SCAR/WAVE complex drives actin-based protrusion, cell migration, and cell separation during cytokinesis. However, the contribution of the individual complex members to the activity of the whole remains a mystery. This is primarily because complex members depend on one another for stability, which limits the scope for experimental manipulation. Several studies suggest that Abi, a relatively small complex member, connects signaling to SCAR/WAVE complex localization and activation through its polyproline C-terminal tail. We generated a deletion series of the Dictyostelium discoideum Abi to investigate its exact role in regulation of the SCAR complex and identified a minimal fragment that would stabilize the complex. Surprisingly, loss of either the N terminus of Abi or the C-terminal polyproline tail conferred no detectable defect in complex recruitment to the leading edge or the formation of pseudopods. A fragment containing approximately 20% Abi--and none of the sites that couple to known signaling pathways--allowed the SCAR complex to function with normal localization and kinetics. However, expression of N-terminal Abi deletions exacerbated the cytokinesis defect of the Dictyostelium abi mutant, which was earlier shown to be caused by the inappropriate activation of SCAR. This demonstrates, unexpectedly, that Abi does not mediate the SCAR complex's ability to make pseudopods, beyond its role in complex stability. Instead, we propose that Abi has a modulatory role when the SCAR complex is activated through other mechanisms.

Measuring chemotaxis using direct visualization microscope chambers.

Direct visualization chambers are considered the gold standard for measuring and analyzing chemotactic responses, because they allow detailed analysis of cellular behavior during the process of chemotaxis. We have previously described the Insall chamber, an improved chamber for measuring cancer cell chemotaxis. Here, we describe in detail how this system can be used to perform two key assays for both fast- and slow-moving mammalian and nonmammalian cell types. This allows for the detailed analysis of chemotactic responses in linear gradients at the levels of both overall cell behavior and subcellular dynamics.

Cyclical action of the WASH complex: FAM21 and capping protein drive WASH recycling, not initial recruitment.

WASH causes actin to polymerize on vesicles involved in retrograde traffic and exocytosis. It is found within a regulatory complex, but the physiological roles of the other four members are unknown. Here we present genetic analysis of the subunits' individual functions in Dictyostelium. Mutants in each subunit are completely blocked in exocytosis. All subunits except FAM21 are required to drive actin assembly on lysosomes. Without actin, lysosomes never recycle vacuolar-type H(+)-adenosine triphosphatase (V-ATPase) or neutralize to form postlysosomes. However, in FAM21 knockout lysosomes, WASH generates excessive, dynamic streams of actin. These successfully remove V-ATPase, neutralize, and form huge postlysosomes. The distinction between WASH and FAM21 phenotypes is conserved in human cells. Thus, FAM21 and WASH act at different steps of a cyclical pathway in which FAM21 mediates recycling of the complex back to acidic lysosomes. Recycling is driven by FAM21's interaction with capping protein, which couples the WASH complex to dynamic actin on vesicles.

Phosphorylation of actin-related protein 2 (Arp2) is required for normal development and cAMP chemotaxis in Dictyostelium.

Phosphorylation of the actin-related protein 2 (Arp2) subunit of the Arp2/3 complex on evolutionarily conserved threonine and tyrosine residues was recently identified and shown to be necessary for nucleating activity of the Arp2/3 complex and membrane protrusion of Drosophila cells. Here we use the Dictyostelium diploid system to replace the essential Arp2 protein with mutants that cannot be phosphorylated at Thr-235/6 and Tyr-200. We found that aggregation of the resulting mutant cells after starvation was substantially slowed with delayed early developmental gene expression and that chemotaxis toward a cAMP gradient was defective with loss of polarity and attenuated F-actin assembly. Chemotaxis toward cAMP was also diminished with reduced cell speed and directionality and shorter pseudopod lifetime when Arp2 phosphorylation mutant cells were allowed to develop longer to a responsive state similar to that of wild-type cells. However, clathrin-mediated endocytosis and chemotaxis under agar to folate in vegetative cells were only subtly affected in Arp2 phosphorylation mutants. Thus, phosphorylation of threonine and tyrosine is important for a subset of the functions of the Arp2/3 complex, in particular an unexpected major role in regulating development.

Isoprenylcysteine carboxy methylation is essential for development in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Members of the Ras superfamily of small GTPases and the heterotrimeric G protein gamma subunit are methylated on their carboxy-terminal cysteine residues by isoprenylcysteine methyltransferase. In Dictyostelium discoideum, small GTPase methylation occurs seconds after stimulation of starving cells by cAMP and returns quickly to basal levels, suggesting an important role in cAMP-dependent signaling. Deleting the isoprenylcysteine methyltransferase-encoding gene causes dramatic defects. Starving mutant cells do not propagate cAMP waves in a sustained manner, and they do not aggregate. Motility is rescued when cells are pulsed with exogenous cAMP, or coplated with wild-type cells, but the rescued cells exhibit altered polarity. cAMP-pulsed methyltransferase-deficient cells that have aggregated fail to differentiate, but mutant cells plated in a wild-type background are able to do so. Localization of and signaling by RasG is altered in the mutant. Localization of the heterotrimeric Ggamma protein subunit was normal, but signaling was altered in mutant cells. These data indicate that isoprenylcysteine methylation is required for intercellular signaling and development in Dictyostelium.

An autoregulatory circuit for long-range self-organization in Dictyostelium cell populations.

Nutrient-deprived Dictyostelium amoebae aggregate to form a multicellular structure by chemotaxis, moving towards propagating waves of cyclic AMP that are relayed from cell to cell. Organizing centres are not formed by founder cells, but are dynamic entities consisting of cores of outwardly rotating spiral waves that self-organize in a homogeneous cell population. Spiral waves are ubiquitously observed in chemical reactions as well as in biological systems. Although feedback control of spiral waves in spatially extended chemical reactions has been demonstrated in recent years, the mechanism by which control is achieved in living systems is unknown. Here we show that mutants of the cyclic AMP/protein kinase A pathway show periodic signalling, but fail to organize coherent long-range wave territories, owing to the appearance of numerous spiral cores. A theoretical model suggests that autoregulation of cell excitability mediated by protein kinase A acts to optimize the number of signalling centres.