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Tension at intercellular junctions is necessary for accurate orientation of cell division in the epithelium plane

Lisica, Ana; Fouchard, Jonathan; Kelkar, Manasi; Wyatt, Tom PJ; Duque, Julia; Ndiaye, Anne-Betty; Bonfanti, Alessandra; ... Charras, Guillaume T; + view all (2022) Tension at intercellular junctions is necessary for accurate orientation of cell division in the epithelium plane. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , 119 (49) , Article e2201600119. 10.1073/pnas.2201600119. Green open access

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Abstract

The direction in which a cell divides is set by the orientation of its mitotic spindle and is important for determining cell fate, controlling tissue shape, and maintaining tissue architecture. Divisions parallel to the epithelial plane sustain tissue expansion. By contrast, divisions perpendicular to the plane promote tissue stratification and lead to the loss of epithelial cells from the tissue-an event that has been suggested to promote metastasis. Much is known about the molecular machinery involved in orienting the spindle, but less is known about the contribution of mechanical factors, such as tissue tension, in ensuring spindle orientation in the plane of the epithelium. This is important as epithelia are continuously subjected to mechanical stresses. To explore this further, we subjected suspended epithelial monolayers devoid of extracellular matrix to varying levels of tissue tension to study the orientation of cell divisions relative to the tissue plane. This analysis revealed that lowering tissue tension by compressing epithelial monolayers or by inhibiting myosin contractility increased the frequency of out-of-plane divisions. Reciprocally, increasing tissue tension by elevating cell contractility or by tissue stretching restored accurate in-plane cell divisions. Moreover, a characterization of the geometry of cells within these epithelia suggested that spindles can sense tissue tension through its impact on tension at subcellular surfaces, independently of their shape. Overall, these data suggest that accurate spindle orientation in the plane of the epithelium relies on a threshold level of tension at intercellular junctions.

Type: Article
Title: Tension at intercellular junctions is necessary for accurate orientation of cell division in the epithelium plane
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201600119
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201600119
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords: epithelium, out-of-plane division, spindle orientation, tissue tension
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > London Centre for Nanotechnology
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10161336
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