Actomyosin meshwork mechanosensing enables tissue shape to orient cell force

Soline Chanet, Callie J. Miller, Eeshit Dhaval Vaishnav, Bard Ermentrout, Lance A. Davidson and Adam C. Martin ()
Additional contact information
Soline Chanet: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Callie J. Miller: University of Pittsburgh
Eeshit Dhaval Vaishnav: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bard Ermentrout: University of Pittsburgh
Lance A. Davidson: University of Pittsburgh
Adam C. Martin: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Sculpting organism shape requires that cells produce forces with proper directionality. Thus, it is critical to understand how cells orient the cytoskeleton to produce forces that deform tissues. During Drosophila gastrulation, actomyosin contraction in ventral cells generates a long, narrow epithelial furrow, termed the ventral furrow, in which actomyosin fibres and tension are directed along the length of the furrow. Using a combination of genetic and mechanical perturbations that alter tissue shape, we demonstrate that geometrical and mechanical constraints act as cues to orient the cytoskeleton and tension during ventral furrow formation. We developed an in silico model of two-dimensional actomyosin meshwork contraction, demonstrating that actomyosin meshworks exhibit an inherent force orienting mechanism in response to mechanical constraints. Together, our in vivo and in silico data provide a framework for understanding how cells orient force generation, establishing a role for geometrical and mechanical patterning of force production in tissues.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15014 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:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15014

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

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15014

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 ().