Tissue self-organization based on collective cell migration by contact activation of locomotion and chemotaxis

Abstract

Despite their central role in multicellular organization, navigation rules that dictate cell rearrangement remain much to be elucidated. Contact between neighboring cells and diffusive attractant molecules are two of the major determinants of tissue-level patterning, however in most cases, molecular and developmental complexity hinders one from decoding the exact governing rules of individual cell movement. A primordial example of tissue patterning by cell rearrangement is found in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum where the organizing center or the tip self-organize as a result of sorting of differentiating prestalk and prespore cells. Due to its relatively simple and conditional multicellularity, the system provides a rare case where the process can be fully dissected into individual cell behavior. By employing microfluidics and microsphere-based manipulation of navigational cues at the single-cell level, here we uncovered a previously overlooked mode of Dictyostelium cell migration that is strictly directed by cell-cell contact. The cell-cell contact signal is mediated by E-set Ig-like domain containing heterophilic adhesion molecules TgrB1/TgrC1 that act in trans to induce plasma membrane recruitment of SCAR complex and formation of dendritic actin networks, and the resulting cell protrusion competes with those induced by chemoattractant cAMP. Furthermore, we demonstrate that both prestalk and prespore cells can protrude towards the contact signal as well as to chemotax towards cAMP, however when given both signals, prestalk cells orient towards the chemoattractant whereas prespore cells choose the contact signal. These data suggest a new model of cell sorting by competing juxtacrine and diffusive cues each with potential to drive its own mode of collective cell migration. The present findings not only resolve the long standing question of how cells sort in Dictyostelium but also cast light on the remarkable parallels in collective cell migration that evolved independently in metazoa and amoebozoa.