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NMII forms a contractile transcellular sarcomeric network to regulate apical cell junctions and tissue geometry.

Seham Ebrahim¹, Tomoki Fujita, Bryan A Millis

¹Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

Current Biology : CB

|April 9, 2013

Summary

Nonmuscle myosin II (NMII) forms muscle-like sarcomeric units around epithelial cells. These paired sarcomeres create a transcellular contractile network, regulating cell shape and tissue tension.

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Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Biophysics
Developmental Biology

Background:

Nonmuscle myosin II (NMII) integrates force at epithelial apical junctions, crucial for tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis.
NMII dysfunction is linked to diseases involving cell-cell adhesion failures.
The precise organization and tension-generating mechanism of NMII at intercellular junctions remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the structural organization of NMII at epithelial junctions.
To understand how NMII generates and responds to tension along the intercellular junctional line.
To investigate the role of NMII in epithelial tissue organization and disease.

Main Methods:

High-resolution imaging of NMII organization within epithelial cells.
Analysis of actin and α-actinin interactions with NMII filaments.
Investigating the functional consequences of NMII sarcomere dynamics on cell and tissue shape.

Main Results:

Discovered periodic, muscle-like sarcomeric units of NMII filaments, actin, and α-actinin forming a continuous belt around epithelial cells.
Demonstrated precise pairing of these sarcomeres between adjacent cells, creating an integrated transcellular contractile network.
Observed that sarcomere contraction/relaxation directly influences apical cell shape and tissue geometry.
Showed differential distribution and isoform compensation of NMII at heterotypic junctions.

Conclusions:

Proposed a model for NMII force generation and transmission across epithelial cell junctions via paired sarcomeres.
Highlighted the sarcomeric network as a key regulator of epithelial organization, homeostasis, development, and disease.
Established a framework for investigating NMII's multifaceted roles in cell adhesion and tissue dynamics.