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E-cadherin tunes tissue mechanical behavior before and during morphogenetic tissue flows.

Xun Wang1, Christian M Cupo1, Sassan Ostvar1

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.

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Epithelial cell adhesion, regulated by E-cadherin, influences tissue mechanics and cell flow during development. Changes in E-cadherin impact cell shape and rearrangement speed, revealing dual roles in tissue dynamics.

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E-cadherincell-cell adhesionconvergent extensionepithelial morphogenesistissue fluidity

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Epithelial tissues exhibit complex mechanical behaviors crucial for development.
  • Cell-cell adhesion, particularly via E-cadherin, is fundamental to epithelial tissue integrity and mechanics.
  • The precise influence of adhesion on tissue mechanics during dynamic processes like morphogenesis remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how E-cadherin-mediated adhesion affects the mechanical behavior of epithelial tissues during morphogenesis.
  • To analyze the role of E-cadherin in static and dynamically flowing confluent epithelial tissues.
  • To elucidate the relationship between cell adhesion, tissue structure, and cell flow in vivo.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic modulation of E-cadherin levels in the Drosophila embryo's germband epithelium.
  • Analysis of tissue mechanics, cell shape, and cell flow before and during body axis elongation.
  • Investigation of actomyosin-dependent forces and their relationship with E-cadherin levels.

Main Results:

  • Increased E-cadherin levels led to more elongated cells and a more fluid-like tissue state before axis elongation, reducing resistance to flow.
  • During axis elongation, E-cadherin primarily tuned the speed of cell rearrangement events.
  • E-cadherin levels influenced actomyosin-dependent forces, suggesting a role in tuning tissue mechanics.
  • Significant changes in E-cadherin (approx. 4-fold) had relatively weak effects on overall tissue structure and flow, indicating system robustness.

Conclusions:

  • E-cadherin plays dual and sometimes opposing roles in controlling epithelial tissue structure and dynamics.
  • Adhesion influences tissue mechanics by modulating cell shape, flow, and actomyosin activity.
  • Confluent epithelial tissues demonstrate tolerance to variations in E-cadherin levels within a functional range.
  • These findings reveal complex, non-intuitive relationships between cell adhesion and tissue flow in vivo.