Migratory cells use distinct motility modes to navigate different microenvironments, but it is unclear whether these modes rely on the same core set of polarity components. To investigate this, we disrupted actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) and the WASP-family verprolin homologous protein (WAVE) complex, which assemble branched actin networks that are essential for neutrophil polarity and motility in standard adherent conditions. Surprisingly, confinement rescues polarity and movement of neutrophils lacking these components, revealing a processive bleb-based protrusion program that is mechanistically distinct from the branched actin-based protrusion program but shares some of the same core components and underlying molecular logic. We further find that the restriction of protrusion growth to one site does not always respond to membrane tension directly, as previously thought, but may rely on closely linked properties such as local membrane curvature. Our work reveals a hidden circuit for neutrophil polarity and indicates that cells have distinct molecular mechanisms for polarization that dominate in different microenvironments.

The ability to rapidly assemble and prototype cellular circuits is vital for biological research and its applications in biotechnology and medicine. Current methods that permit the assembly of DNA circuits in mammalian cells are laborious, slow, expensive and mostly not permissive of rapid prototyping of constructs. Here we present the Mammalian ToolKit (MTK), a Golden Gate-based cloning toolkit for fast, reproducible and versatile assembly of large DNA vectors and their implementation in mammalian models. The MTK consists of a curated library of characterized, modular parts that can be easily mixed and matched to combinatorially assemble one transcriptional unit with different characteristics, or a hierarchy of transcriptional units weaved into complex circuits. MTK renders many cell engineering operations facile, as showcased by our ability to use the toolkit to generate single-integration landing pads, to create and deliver libraries of protein variants and sgRNAs, and to iterate through Cas9-based prototype circuits. As a biological proof of concept, we used the MTK to successfully design and rapidly construct in mammalian cells a challenging multicistronic circuit encoding the Ebola virus (EBOV) replication complex. This construct provides a non-infectious biosafety level 2 (BSL2) cellular assay for exploring the transcription and replication steps of the EBOV viral life cycle in its host. Its construction also demonstrates how the MTK can enable important and time sensitive applications such as the rapid testing of pharmacological inhibitors of emerging BSL4 viruses that pose a major threat to human health..

How local interactions of actin regulators yield large-scale organization of cell shape and movement is not well understood. Here we investigate how the WAVE complex organizes sheet-like lamellipodia. Using super-resolution microscopy, we find that the WAVE complex forms actin-independent 230-nm-wide rings that localize to regions of saddle membrane curvature. This pattern of enrichment could explain several emergent cell behaviors, such as expanding and self-straightening lamellipodia and the ability of endothelial cells to recognize and seal transcellular holes. The WAVE complex recruits IRSp53 to sites of saddle curvature but does not depend on IRSp53 for its own localization. Although the WAVE complex stimulates actin nucleation via the Arp2/3 complex, sheet-like protrusions are still observed in ARP2-null, but not WAVE complex-null, cells. Therefore, the WAVE complex has additional roles in cell morphogenesis beyond Arp2/3 complex activation. Our work defines organizing principles of the WAVE complex lamellipodial template and suggests how feedback between cell shape and actin regulators instructs cell morphogenesis.

Migratory cells use distinct motility modes to navigate different microenvironments, but it is unclear whether these modes rely on the same core set of polarity components. To investigate this, we disrupted Arp2/3 and WAVE complex, which assemble branched actin networks that are essential for neutrophil polarity and motility in standard adherent conditions. Surprisingly, confinement rescues polarity and movement of neutrophils lacking these components, revealing a processive bleb-based protrusion program that is mechanistically distinct from the branched actin-based protrusion program but shares some of the same core components and underlying molecular logic. We further find that the restriction of protrusion growth to one site does not always respond to membrane tension directly, as previously thought, but may rely on closely linked properties such as local membrane curvature. Our work reveals a hidden circuit for neutrophil polarity and indicates that cells have distinct molecular mechanisms for polarization that dominate in different microenvironments.to produce a single protrusion ( Fig. 1A) (Diz-Muñoz et al., 2016;Houk et al., 2012;Keren et al., 2008;Sens and Plastino, 2015).While actin polymerization serves as a key ingredient in generating the positive and negative feedback loops that give rise to polarity, we lack an understanding of how specific types of actin networks provide each kind of feedback. Immune cells assemble multiple actin networks at different subcellular locations that carry out distinct functions to support migration: Arp2/3dependent assembly of branched actin networks at the leading edge contributes to cell guidance/steering and protrusion extension, while actomyosin bundles near the trailing edge provide contractile force to lift the cell rear and squeeze the cell body forward (Lämmermann and Germain, 2014;Moreau et al., 2018). Along with these functional differences, the types of actin networks immune cells and other migratory cells employ for migration vary with microenvironment (Lämmermann and Germain, 2014;Paluch et al., 2016). The role of actin dynamics in migration is complex and likely depends on the type of actin network, its subcellular location, and the extracellular environment. Existing tools to probe the role of actin networks in both the positive and negative feedback loops needed for polarity are fairly crude and have largely been based on pharmacological perturbations that target all actin polymer (Diz-Muñoz et al., 2016;Huang et al., 2013;Inoue and Meyer, 2008;Sasaki et al., 2007;Wang et al., 2002;Weiner et al., 2007;Yang et al., 2016). More surgical experiments are needed to clarify how different subcellular actin networks contribute to polarity generation under different environmental conditions. Figure 1. WAVE complex is required for neutrophil polarity and motility.A) Polarity generation depends on fast-acting, short-range positive feedback and slower-acting, long-range negative feedback. Actin assembly participates in both types of feedback, with its role in negat...