Guidance by Followers Ensures Long-Range Coordination of Cell Migration Through α-Catenin Mechanoperception

Abstract

Morphogenesis, wound healing and some cancer metastases depend upon migration of cell collectives that need to be guided to their destination as well as coordinated with other cell movements. During zebrafish gastrulation, extension of the embryonic axis is led by the mesendodermal polster that migrates towards the animal pole, followed by axial mesoderm that is undergoing convergence and extension. We here investigate how polster cells are guided towards the animal pole. Using a combination of precise laser ablations, advanced transplantations and functional as well as in silico approaches, we establish that the directional information guiding polster cells is mechanical, and is provided by the anteriorward migration of the following cells. This information is detected by cell-cell contact through E-Cadherin/-Catenin mechanotransduction and propagates from cell to cell over the whole tissue. Such guidance of migrating cells by followers ensures long-range coordination of movements and developmental robustness.

Nance-Horan-Syndrome-like 1b controls mesodermal cell migration by regulating protrusion and actin dynamics during zebrafish gastrulation

“…For cell tracking, Tg(tbx16:egfp) embryos were injected with H2B-mCherry (50ng/μL) mRNA at the 1-cell stage and mounted at 6.5hpf. Nuclei were tracked in IMARIS (Bitplane) and further processed using a custom-made Matlab (Math Works) pipeline, as described previously 38,39 , to compute instant cell speed, directionality ratio, and directional autocorrelation. Mesoderm and epiboly progression were quantified on Tg(tbx16:egfp) embryos.…”