MEKK1-dependent phosphorylation of calponin-3 tunes cell contractility.

MEKK1 (also known as MAP3K1), which plays a major role in MAPK signaling, has been implicated in mechanical processes in cells, such as migration. Here, we identify the actin-binding protein calponin-3 as a new MEKK1 substrate in the signaling that regulates actomyosin-based cellular contractility. MEKK1 colocalizes with calponin-3 at the actin cytoskeleton and phosphorylates it, leading to an increase in the cell-generated traction stress. MEKK1-mediated calponin-3 phosphorylation is attenuated by the inhibition of myosin II activity, the disruption of actin cytoskeletal integrity and adhesion to soft extracellular substrates, whereas it is enhanced upon cell stretching. Our results reveal the importance of the MEKK1-calponin-3 signaling pathway to cell contractility.

Actomyosin bundles serve as a tension sensor and a platform for ERK activation.

Tensile forces generated by stress fibers drive signal transduction events at focal adhesions. Here, we report that stress fibers per se act as a platform for tension-induced activation of biochemical signals. The MAP kinase, ERK is activated on stress fibers in a myosin II-dependent manner. In myosin II-inhibited cells, uniaxial stretching of cell adhesion substrates restores ERK activation on stress fibers. By quantifying myosin II- or mechanical stretch-mediated tensile forces in individual stress fibers, we show that ERK activation on stress fibers correlates positively with tensile forces acting on the fibers, indicating stress fibers as a tension sensor in ERK activation. Myosin II-dependent ERK activation is also observed on actomyosin bundles connecting E-cadherin clusters, thus suggesting that actomyosin bundles, in general, work as a platform for tension-dependent ERK activation.

Epithelial bridges maintain tissue integrity during collective cell migration.

The ability of skin to act as a barrier is primarily determined by the efficiency of skin cells to maintain and restore its continuity and integrity. In fact, during wound healing keratinocytes migrate collectively to maintain their cohesion despite heterogeneities in the extracellular matrix. Here, we show that monolayers of human keratinocytes migrating along functionalized micropatterned surfaces comprising alternating strips of extracellular matrix (fibronectin) and non-adherent polymer form suspended multicellular bridges over the non-adherent areas. The bridges are held together by intercellular adhesion and are subjected to considerable tension, as indicated by the presence of prominent actin bundles. We also show that a model based on force propagation through an elastic material reproduces the main features of bridge maintenance and tension distribution. Our findings suggest that multicellular bridges maintain tissue integrity during wound healing when cell-substrate interactions are weak and may prove helpful in the design of artificial scaffolds for skin regeneration.

Emerging modes of collective cell migration induced by geometrical constraints.

The role of geometrical confinement on collective cell migration has been recognized but has not been elucidated yet. Here, we show that the geometrical properties of the environment regulate the formation of collective cell migration patterns through cell-cell interactions. Using microfabrication techniques to allow epithelial cell sheets to migrate into strips whose width was varied from one up to several cell diameters, we identified the modes of collective migration in response to geometrical constraints. We observed that a decrease in the width of the strips is accompanied by an overall increase in the speed of the migrating cell sheet. Moreover, large-scale vortices over tens of cell lengths appeared in the wide strips whereas a contraction-elongation type of motion is observed in the narrow strips. Velocity fields and traction force signatures within the cellular population revealed migration modes with alternative pulling and/or pushing mechanisms that depend on extrinsic constraints. Force transmission through intercellular contacts plays a key role in this process because the disruption of cell-cell junctions abolishes directed collective migration and passive cell-cell adhesions tend to move the cells uniformly together independent of the geometry. Altogether, these findings not only demonstrate the existence of patterns of collective cell migration depending on external constraints but also provide a mechanical explanation for how large-scale interactions through cell-cell junctions can feed back to regulate the organization of migrating tissues.

Evidence of a large-scale mechanosensing mechanism for cellular adaptation to substrate stiffness.

Cell migration plays a major role in many fundamental biological processes, such as morphogenesis, tumor metastasis, and wound healing. As they anchor and pull on their surroundings, adhering cells actively probe the stiffness of their environment. Current understanding is that traction forces exerted by cells arise mainly at mechanotransduction sites, called focal adhesions, whose size seems to be correlated to the force exerted by cells on their underlying substrate, at least during their initial stages. In fact, our data show by direct measurements that the buildup of traction forces is faster for larger substrate stiffness, and that the stress measured at adhesion sites depends on substrate rigidity. Our results, backed by a phenomenological model based on active gel theory, suggest that rigidity-sensing is mediated by a large-scale mechanism originating in the cytoskeleton instead of a local one. We show that large-scale mechanosensing leads to an adaptative response of cell migration to stiffness gradients. In response to a step boundary in rigidity, we observe not only that cells migrate preferentially toward stiffer substrates, but also that this response is optimal in a narrow range of rigidities. Taken together, these findings lead to unique insights into the regulation of cell response to external mechanical cues and provide evidence for a cytoskeleton-based rigidity-sensing mechanism.

Collective cell migration: a mechanistic perspective.

Collective cell migration is fundamental to gaining insights into various important biological processes such as wound healing and cancer metastasis. In particular, recent in vitro studies and in silico simulations suggest that mechanics can explain the social behavior of multicellular clusters to a large extent with minimal knowledge of various cellular signaling pathways. These results suggest that a mechanistic perspective is necessary for a comprehensive and holistic understanding of collective cell migration, and this review aims to provide a broad overview of such a perspective.

Probing effects of pH change on dynamic response of Claudin-2 mediated adhesion using single molecule force spectroscopy.

Claudins belong to a large family of transmembrane proteins that localize at tight junctions (TJs) where they play a central role in regulating paracellular transport of solutes and nutrients across epithelial monolayers. Their ability to regulate the paracellular pathway is highly influenced by changes in extracellular pH. However, the effect of changes in pH on the strength and kinetics of claudin mediated adhesion is poorly understood. Using atomic force microscopy, we characterized the kinetic properties of homophilic trans-interactions between full length recombinant GST tagged Claudin-2 (Cldn2) under different pH conditions. In measurements covering three orders of magnitude change in force loading rate of 10(2)-10(4) pN/s, the Cldn2/Cldn2 force spectrum (i.e., unbinding force versus loading rate) revealed a fast and a slow loading regime that characterized a steep inner activation barrier and a wide outer activation barrier throughout pH range of 4.5-8. Comparing to the neutral condition (pH 6.9), differences in the inner energy barriers for the dissociation of Cldn2/Cldn2 mediated interactions at acidic and alkaline environments were found to be <0.65 k(B)T, which is much lower than the outer dissociation energy barrier (>1.37 k(B)T). The relatively stable interaction of Cldn2/Cldn2 in neutral environment suggests that electrostatic interactions may contribute to the overall adhesion strength of Cldn2 interactions. Our results provide an insight into the changes in the inter-molecular forces and adhesion kinetics of Cldn2 mediated interactions in acidic, neutral and alkaline environments.

Quantifying Tensile Force and ERK Phosphorylation on Actin Stress Fibers.

ERK associates with the actin cytoskeleton, and the actin-associated pool of ERK can be activated (phosphorylated in the activation loop) to induce specific cell responses. Increasing evidence has shown that mechanical conditions of cells significantly affect ERK activation. In particular, tension developed in the actin cytoskeleton has been implicated as a critical mechanism driving ERK signaling. However, a quantitative study of the relationship between actin tension and ERK phosphorylation is missing. In this chapter, we describe our novel methods to quantify tensile force and ERK phosphorylation on individual actin stress fibers. These methods have enabled us to show that ERK is activated on stress fibers in a tensile force-dependent manner.

Mechanics of epithelial closure over non-adherent environments.

The closure of gaps within epithelia is crucial to maintain its integrity during biological processes such as wound healing and gastrulation. Depending on the distribution of extracellular matrix, gap closure occurs through assembly of multicellular actin-based contractile cables or protrusive activity of border cells into the gap. Here we show that the supracellular actomyosin contractility of cells near the gap edge exerts sufficient tension on the surrounding tissue to promote closure of non-adherent gaps. Using traction force microscopy, we observe that cell-generated forces on the substrate at the gap edge first point away from the centre of the gap and then increase in the radial direction pointing into the gap as closure proceeds. Combining with numerical simulations, we show that the increase in force relies less on localized purse-string contractility and more on large-scale remodelling of the suspended tissue around the gap. Our results provide a framework for understanding the assembly and the mechanics of cellular contractility at the tissue level.

Microfabricated environments to study collective cell behaviors.

Coordinated cell movements in epithelial layers are essential for proper tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. Microfabrication techniques have proven to be very useful for studies of collective cell migration in vitro. In this chapter, we briefly review the use of microfabricated substrates in providing new insights into collective cell behaviors. We first describe the development of micropatterned substrates to study the influence of geometrical constraints on cell migration and coordinated movements. Then, we present an alternative method based on microfabricated pillar substrates to create well-defined gaps within cell sheets and study gap closure. We also provide a discussion that presents possible pitfalls and sheds light onto the important parameters that allow the study of long-term cell culture on substrates of well-defined geometries.

Geometrical constraints and physical crowding direct collective migration of fibroblasts.

Migrating cells constantly interact with their immediate microenvironment and neighbors. Although studies on single cell migration offer us insights into the molecular and biochemical signaling pathways, they cannot predict the influence of cell crowding and geometrical cues. Using microfabrication techniques, we examine the influence of cell density and geometrical constraints on migrating fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were allowed to migrate on fibronectin strips of different widths. Under such conditions, cells experience various physical guidance cues including boundary effect, confinement and contact inhibition from neighboring cells. Fibroblasts migrating along the edge of the fibronectin pattern exhibit spindle-like morphology, reminiscent of migrating cells within confined space and high cell density are associated with increased alignment and higher speed in migrating fibroblasts.

Guidance of collective cell migration by substrate geometry.

Collective behavior refers to the emergence of complex migration patterns over scales larger than those of the individual elements constituting a system. It plays a pivotal role in biological systems in regulating various processes such as gastrulation, morphogenesis and tissue organization. Here, by combining experimental approaches and numerical modeling, we explore the role of cell density ('crowding'), strength of intercellular adhesion ('cohesion') and boundary conditions imposed by extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins ('constraints') in regulating the emergence of collective behavior within epithelial cell sheets. Our results show that the geometrical confinement of cells into well-defined circles induces a persistent, coordinated and synchronized rotation of cells that depends on cell density. The speed of such rotating large-scale movements slows down as the density increases. Furthermore, such collective rotation behavior depends on the size of the micropatterned circles: we observe a rotating motion of the overall cell population in the same direction for sizes of up to 200 µm. The rotating cells move as a solid body, with a uniform angular velocity. Interestingly, this upper limit leads to length scales that are similar to the natural correlation length observed for unconfined epithelial cell sheets. This behavior is strongly altered in cells that present a downregulation of adherens junctions and in cancerous cell types. We anticipate that our system provides a simple and easy approach to investigate collective cell behavior in a well-controlled and systematic manner.

Biophysical methods to probe claudin-mediated adhesion at the cellular and molecular level.

Claudins are a family of tetraspan membrane proteins that localize at tight junctions in an epithelial monolayer forming a selective barrier to diffusion of solutes via the intercellular spaces. It is widely accepted that the interaction between the extracellular loops of claudin molecules from adjacent cells is critical for this function. Though previous experiments utilizing traditional biological, biochemical, morphological, and electrophysiological approaches have provided significant insights into the role of claudins in regulating ion permeability, the interaction kinetics between these molecules has not been characterized. In this chapter, we describe two experimental procedures to study the adhesion forces imparted by claudins: (a) dual micropipette assay to quantify the adhesion forces at the cellular level and (b) single molecule force spectroscopy using atomic force microscopy to characterize the interaction kinetics at the molecular level. Though the experimental procedures are described for claudins, they can be easily modified for studying the interaction properties of a wide variety of other proteins.

Kinetics of adhesion mediated by extracellular loops of claudin-2 as revealed by single-molecule force spectroscopy.

Claudins (Cldns) comprise a large family of important transmembrane proteins that localize at tight junctions where they play a central role in regulating paracellular transportation of solutes across epithelia. However, molecular interactions occurring between the extracellular domains of these proteins are poorly understood. Here, using atomic force microscopy, the adhesion strength and kinetic properties of the homophilic interactions between the two extracellular loops of Cldn2 (C2E1or C2E2) and full-length Cldn2 were characterized at the level of single molecule. Results show that while the first extracellular loop is sufficient for Cldn2/Cldn2 trans-interaction, the second extracellular loop does not interact with the full-length Cldn2, with the first extracellular loop, or with itself. Furthermore, within the range of loading rates probed (10(2)-10(4) pN/s), dissociation of Cldn2/Cldn2 and C2E1/C2E1 complexes follows a two-step energy barrier model. The difference in activation energy for the inner and outer barriers of Cldn2/Cldn2 and C2E1/C2E1 dissociation was found to be 0.26 and 1.66 k(B)T, respectively. Comparison of adhesion kinetics further revealed that Cldn2/Cldn2 dissociates at a much faster rate than C2E1/C2E1, indicating that the second extracellular loop probably has an antagonistic effect on the kinetic stability of Cldn2-mediated interactions. These results provide an insight into the importance of the first extracellular loop in trans-interaction of Cldn2-mediated adhesion.

Single-molecular-level study of claudin-1-mediated adhesion.

Claudins are proteins that are selectively expressed at tight junctions (TJs) of epithelial cells where they play a central role in regulating paracellular permeability of solutes across epithelia. However, the role of claudins in intercellular adhesion and the mechanism by which they regulate the diffusion of solutes are poorly understood. Here, using single molecule force spectroscopy, the kinetic properties and adhesion strength of homophilic claudin-1 interactions were probed at the single-molecule level. Within the range of tested loading rates (10(3)-10(5) pN/s), our results showed that homophilic claudin-1 interactions have a reactive compliance of 0.363 +/- 0.061 nm and an unstressed dissociation rate of 1.351 +/- 1.312 s-1. This is more than 100-fold greater than that of E-cadherin. The weak and short-lived interactions between claudin-1 molecules make them highly unstable and dynamic in nature. Such a dynamic interaction is consistent with a model where breaking and resealing of TJ strands regulate the paracellular diffusion of solutes.

A comparative molecular force spectroscopy study of homophilic JAM-A interactions and JAM-A interactions with reovirus attachment protein sigma1.

JAM-A belongs to a family of immunoglobulin-like proteins called junctional adhesion molecules (JAMs) that localize at epithelial and endothelial intercellular tight junctions. JAM-A is also expressed on dendritic cells, neutrophils, and platelets. Homophilic JAM-A interactions play an important role in regulating paracellular permeability and leukocyte transmigration across epithelial monolayers and endothelial cell junctions, respectively. In addition, JAM-A is a receptor for the reovirus attachment protein, sigma1. In this study, we used single molecular force spectroscopy to compare the kinetics of JAM-A interactions with itself and sigma1. A chimeric murine JAM-A/Fc fusion protein and the purified sigma1 head domain were used to probe murine L929 cells, which express JAM-A and are susceptible to reovirus infection. The bond half-life (t(1/2)) of homophilic JAM-A interactions was found to be shorter (k(off)(o) = 0.688 +/- 0.349 s(-1)) than that of sigma1/JAM-A interactions (k(off)(o) = 0.067 +/- 0.041 s(-1)). These results are in accordance with the physiological functions of JAM-A and sigma1. A short bond lifetime imparts a highly dynamic nature to homophilic JAM-A interactions for regulating tight junction permeability while stable interactions between sigma1 and JAM-A likely anchor the virus to the cell surface and facilitate viral entry.

Molecular force spectroscopy of homophilic nectin-1 interactions.

Nectins are Ca2+ independent cell adhesion molecules localizing at the cadherin based adherens junctions. In this study, we have used atomic force microscopy to study interaction of a chimera of extra cellular fragment of nectin-1 and Fc of human IgG (nef-1) with wild type L-fibroblasts that express endogenous nectin-1 to elucidate the biophysical characteristics of homophilic nectin-1 trans-interactions at the level of single molecule. Bond strength distribution revealed three distinct bound states (or configurations) of trans-interactions between paired nectins, where each bound state has a unique unstressed off-rate and reactive compliance. Kinetic analysis of force-dependent off-rate of the bound state involving trans-interacting V-V domains between paired nectin-1 (unstressed off-rate approximately 1.465+/-0.779 s(-1), reactive compliance approximately 0.143+/-0.072 nm) was found to be closest to E-cadherin, indicating that V-V domain trans-interactions are probably necessary to initiate and promote adhesions of E-cadherin at adherens junctions (AJs).