EpCAM promotes endosomal modulation of the cortical RhoA zone for epithelial organization

Cécile Gaston, Simon Beco, Bryant Doss, Meng Pan, Estelle Gauquelin, Joseph D’Alessandro, Chwee Teck Lim, Benoit Ladoux and Delphine Delacour ()
Additional contact information
Cécile Gaston: Paris Diderot University
Simon Beco: Paris Diderot University
Bryant Doss: Mechanobiology Institute, T-lab
Meng Pan: Mechanobiology Institute, T-lab
Estelle Gauquelin: Paris Diderot University
Joseph D’Alessandro: Paris Diderot University
Chwee Teck Lim: Mechanobiology Institute, T-lab
Benoit Ladoux: Paris Diderot University
Delphine Delacour: Paris Diderot University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Abstract At the basis of cell shape and behavior, the organization of actomyosin and its ability to generate forces are widely studied. However, the precise regulation of this contractile network in space and time is unclear. Here, we study the role of the epithelial-specific protein EpCAM, a contractility modulator, in cell shape and motility. We show that EpCAM is required for stress fiber generation and front-rear polarity acquisition at the single cell level. In fact, EpCAM participates in the remodeling of a transient zone of active RhoA at the cortex of spreading epithelial cells. EpCAM and RhoA route together through the Rab35/EHD1 fast recycling pathway. This endosomal pathway spatially organizes GTP-RhoA to fine tune the activity of actomyosin resulting in polarized cell shape and development of intracellular stiffness and traction forces. Impairment of GTP-RhoA endosomal trafficking either by silencing EpCAM or by expressing Rab35/EHD1 mutants prevents proper myosin-II activity, stress fiber formation and ultimately cell polarization. Collectively, this work shows that the coupling between co-trafficking of EpCAM and RhoA, and actomyosin rearrangement is pivotal for cell spreading, and advances our understanding of how biochemical and mechanical properties promote cell plasticity.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22482-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22482-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22482-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().