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Centrosome defines the rear of cells during mesenchymal migration
- Source :
- Molecular Biology of the Cell
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB), 2017.
-
Abstract
- Taking advantage of the strong polarity of cells migrating along micropatterned lines, combined with computational modeling and microsurgery, we found that the centrosome must be localized toward the rear of a cell, likely for controlling the distribution of tail formation signals. This discovery clarifies a long-standing controversy in cell biology.<br />The importance of centrosome in directional cell migration has long been recognized. However, the conventional view that centrosome determines cell’s front, based on its often-observed position in front of the nucleus, has been challenged by contradictory observations. Here we show that centrosome defines the rear instead of the front, using cells plated on micropatterned adhesive strips to facilitate directional migration. We found that centrosome is always located proximal to the future rear before polarity is established through symmetry breaking or reversed as the cell reaches a dead end. In addition, using microsurgery to alter the distance of centrosomes from cells’ ends, we show that centrosomal proximity is predictive of the placement of the rear. Removal of centrosome impairs directional cell migration, whereas the removal of nucleus alone makes no difference in most cells. Computer modeling under the framework of a local-enhancement/global-inhibition mechanism further demonstrates that positioning of rear retraction, mediated by signals concentrated near the centrosome, recapitulates all the experimental observations. Our results resolve a long-standing controversy and explain how cells use centrosome and microtubules to maintain directional migration.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Organogenesis
Cell Count
Biology
Microtubules
Cell Line
Mice
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Cell Movement
Dead end
Microtubule
medicine
Animals
Humans
Computer Simulation
Molecular Biology
Cell Nucleus
Centrosome
Mesenchymal stem cell
Cell Polarity
Epithelial Cells
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Cell migration
Articles
Cell Biology
Cell biology
Cell Motility
030104 developmental biology
medicine.anatomical_structure
NIH 3T3 Cells
Nucleus
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19394586 and 10591524
- Volume :
- 28
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Molecular Biology of the Cell
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....7fee51b74c32e4438d0fb5793406631f