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Mechanosensitive subcellular rheostasis drives emergent single-cell mechanical homeostasis.

ABSTRACT: Mechanical homeostasis-a fundamental process by which cells maintain stable states under environmental perturbations-is regulated by two subcellular mechanotransducers: cytoskeleton tension and integrin-mediated focal adhesions (FAs). Here, we show that single-cell mechanical homeostasis is collectively driven by the distinct, graduated dynamics (rheostasis) of subcellular cytoskeleton tension and FAs. Such rheostasis involves a mechanosensitive pattern wherein ground states of cytoskeleton tension and FA determine their distinct reactive paths through either relaxation or reinforcement. Pharmacological perturbations of the cytoskeleton and molecularly modulated integrin catch-slip bonds biased the rheostasis and induced non-homeostasis of FAs, but not of cytoskeleton tension, suggesting a unique sensitivity of FAs in regulating homeostasis. Theoretical modelling revealed myosin-mediated cytoskeleton contractility and catch-slip-bond-like behaviours in FAs and the cytoskeleton as sufficient and necessary mechanisms for quantitatively recapitulating mechanosensitive rheostasis. Our findings highlight the previously underappreciated physical nature of the mechanical homeostasis of cells.

SUBMITTER: Weng S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4996707 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mechanosensitive subcellular rheostasis drives emergent single-cell mechanical homeostasis.

Weng Shinuo S Shao Yue Y Chen Weiqiang W Fu Jianping J

Nature materials 20160530 9

Mechanical homeostasis-a fundamental process by which cells maintain stable states under environmental perturbations-is regulated by two subcellular mechanotransducers: cytoskeleton tension and integrin-mediated focal adhesions (FAs). Here, we show that single-cell mechanical homeostasis is collectively driven by the distinct, graduated dynamics (rheostasis) of subcellular cytoskeleton tension and FAs. Such rheostasis involves a mechanosensitive pattern wherein ground states of cytoskeleton tens ...[more]

PMID: 27240108

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Project description:Next-generation sequencing has revolutionized cancer biology by accelerating the unbiased discovery of novel mutations across human cancers. Transforming such discoveries into a conceptual framework of cancer progression requires narrowing the vast number of mutations down to the driver elements, and further reducing these to mutations that govern cancer progression as opposed to tumor initiation. By integrating next-generation RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) with in vivo selection, we devise an approach that identifies a series of novel recurrent non-synonymous amino acid mutations that are enriched in metastatic breast cancer cells and predicted to significantly alter protein function. These mutations, found in PANX1, RBFA, REST, KRIT1 and ZSWIM6, are detected at higher frequencies in the transcriptomes of two patientsâ highly metastatic sub-lines relative to their poorly metastatic parental lines. We functionally characterize the cellular and molecular roles of one of these mutationsâa nonsense alteration that yields a truncated pannexin-1 (PANX11-89) plasma membrane megachannel subunitâin metastatic progression. PANX11-89 interacts with full-length PANX1 and augments PANX1 channel activity to promote the survival of cancer cells as they are mechanically deformed. Protection from deformation-induced cell death requires PANX1 channels to release ATP, which acts as a cell autonomous survival signal during mechanical stress. Functional characterization of additional nonsense and missense PANX1 mutations detected in epithelial cancers of the colon, lung, and prostate reveals that these mutants also enhance PANX1-mediated ATP release. In vivo testing of one such truncating mutation detected in a metastatic colorectal tumor also enhances early survival, dissemination and liver metastatic colonization by human colon cancer cells. Finally, pharmacological inhibition of PANX1 inhibits breast cancer metastasis, implicating PANX1 as a novel therapeutic target in cancer. Our findings reveal that ATP release through mechanosensitive PANX1 channels enables cancer cells to overcome a major metastasis suppressive barrier—deformation-induced death in the microvasculature. To systematically identify base-pair mutations present in metastatic cells that may drive cancer progression, we performed whole-transcriptome RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) of in vivo-selected, highly metastatic human breast cancer cell sub-lines, CN-LM1A and MDA-LM2, as well as the CN34 and MDA-MB-231 parental lines from which they were derived. To minimize the false positive rate and allow for subsequent statistical analysis, we sequenced biological replicates of each cell line. Mutations conferring enhanced metastatic capacity should be enriched in the transcriptomes of highly metastatic cells relative to their less metastatic parental populations.

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Mechanosensitive subcellular rheostasis drives emergent single-cell mechanical homeostasis.

Publications

Mechanosensitive subcellular rheostasis drives emergent single-cell mechanical homeostasis.

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