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Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Directly Measuring Forces Within Reconstituted Active Microtubule Bundles
Published on: May 10, 2022
Microtubules promote intercellular contractile force transmission during tissue folding
Clint S Ko1, Vardges Tserunyan1, Adam C Martin2
1Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Microtubules promote cell-to-cell attachments during tissue development. This coordination between actin and microtubule cytoskeletons is crucial for intercellular force transmission in epithelial tissues.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Biophysics
Background:
- Cellular forces are vital for epithelial tissue development.
- Actomyosin contractility influences cell shape and intercellular force transmission.
- Mechanisms maintaining actomyosin attachments under tension are unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the role of microtubules in actomyosin-epithelial attachments.
- Elucidate the coordination between actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in tissue morphogenesis.
Main Methods:
- Live imaging in *Drosophila melanogaster*.
- Analysis of cytoskeletal organization during apical constriction.
- Functional assays assessing microtubule requirements for tissue invagination.
Main Results:
- Discovered a novel microtubule network organized by medioapical actomyosin foci.
- Demonstrated microtubules are essential for mesoderm invagination.
- Showed microtubules link medioapical actomyosin to adherens junctions, facilitating force transmission.
Conclusions:
- Microtubules play a key role in maintaining actomyosin-adherens junction attachments.
- Coordination between actin and microtubule networks is critical for intercellular force transmission.
- This study reveals a novel mechanism for cytoskeletal crosstalk in epithelial tissue sculpting.
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