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Integrin αVβ6-EGFR crosstalk regulates bidirectional force transmission and controls breast cancer invasion

The mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix within tumours control multiple cellular functions that drive cancer invasion and metastasis. However, the mechanisms controlling microenvironmental force sensation and transmission, and how these regulate transcriptional reprogramming and invasion, are unclear. Our aim was to understand how mechanical inputs are transmitted bidirectionally and translated into biochemical and transcriptional outputs to drive breast cancer progression. We reveal that adhesion receptor and growth factor receptor crosstalk regulates a bidirectional feedback mechanism co-ordinating force-dependent transcriptional regulation and invasion.\n\nIntegrin V{beta}6 drives invasion in a range of carcinomas and is a potential therapeutic target. V{beta}6 exhibits unique biophysical properties that promote force-generation and increase matrix rigidity. We employed an inter-disciplinary approach incorporating proteomics, biophysical techniques and multi-modal live-cell imaging to dissect the role of V{beta}6-EGFR crosstalk on transmission of mechanical signals bidirectionally between the extracellular matrix and nucleus.\n\nWe show that V{beta}6 expression correlates with poor prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and drives invasion of TNBC cells. Moreover, our data show that a complex regulatory mechanism exists involving crosstalk between V{beta}6 integrin and EGFR that impacts matrix stiffness, force transmission to the nucleus, transcriptional reprogramming and microenvironment rigidity. V{beta}6 engagement triggers EGFR & MAPK signalling and V{beta}6-EGFR crosstalk regulates mutual receptor trafficking mechanisms. Consequently, EGF stimulation suppresses V{beta}6-mediated force-application on the matrix and nuclear shuttling of force-dependent transcriptional co-activators YAP/TAZ. Finally, we show that crosstalk between V{beta}6 & EGFR regulates TNBC invasion.\n\nWe propose a model whereby V{beta}6-EGFR crosstalk regulates matrix stiffening, but also the transmission of extracellular forces into the cell in order to co-ordinate transcriptional reprogramming and invasion. To exploit adhesion receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases therapeutically, it will be essential to understand the integration of their signalling functions and how crosstalk mechanisms influence invasion and the response of tumours to molecular therapeutics.

cancer biology

Autoamplification and competition drive symmetry breaking: Initiation of centriole duplication by the PLK4-STIL network

Symmetry breaking, a central principle of physics, has been hailed as the driver of self-organization in biological systems in general and biogenesis of cellular organelles in particular, but the molecular mechanisms of symmetry breaking only begin to become understood. Centrioles, the structural cores of centrosomes and cilia, must duplicate every cell cycle to ensure their faithful inheritance through cellular divisions. Work in model organisms identified conserved proteins required for centriole duplication and found that altering their abundance affects centriole number. However, the biophysical principles that ensure that, under physiological conditions, only a single procentriole is produced on each mother centriole remain enigmatic. Here we propose a mechanistic biophysical model for the initiation of procentriole formation in mammalian cells. We posit that interactions between the master regulatory kinase PLK4 and its activator-substrate STIL form the basis of the procentriole initiation network. The model faithfully recapitulates the experimentally observed transition from PLK4 uniformly distributed around the mother centriole, the \"ring\", to a unique PLK4 focus, the \"spot\", that triggers the assembly of a new procentriole. This symmetry breaking requires a dual positive feedback based on autocatalytic activation of PLK4 and enhanced centriolar anchoring of PLK4-STIL complexes by phosphorylated STIL. We find that, contrary to previous proposals, in situ degradation of active PLK4 is insufficient to break symmetry. Instead, the model predicts that competition between transient PLK4 activity maxima for PLK4-STIL complexes explains both the instability of the PLK4 ring and formation of the unique PLK4 spot. In the model, strong competition at physiologically normal parameters robustly produces a single procentriole, while increasing overexpression of PLK4 and STIL weakens the competition and causes progressive addition of procentrioles in agreement with experimental observations.

cell biology

Stepping-stone population structure and sidespread clonality of the mesophotic octocoral Swiftia exserta in the warm temperate northwest Atlantic

Isolated mesophotic banks form spatially discrete networks of patchy ecosystems along continental shelves. Their long-term persistence depends on connectivity among populations of the dominant coral species that structure these communities. Yet the scale of larval-mediated gene flow across these networks remains poorly characterized. Similarly, the extent to which clonal propagation shapes local population dynamics is unresolved, leaving the relative contributions of sexual and asexual reproduction to population maintenance an open question. Here, population genomics and high-resolution (1km) biophysical larval dispersal modeling are integrated to resolve the genetic connectivity and clonal dynamics of Swiftia exserta, a key habitat-forming octocoral, across 13 mesophotic banks spanning the U.S. Gulf and eastern coast within the Warm Temperate Northwest Atlantic (WTNWA) coastal and shelf biogeographic province. Genome-wide SNP markers derived from Restriction-site Associated Sequencing (RADseq) were genotyped across 288 individuals. About 40% of individuals belonged to clonal genets confined to single banks within meters of one another, indicating that asexual propagation sustains local density but plays no detectable role in inter-bank connectivity. Population genetic analyses pointed to isolation by distance as the primary structuring force, with the majority of molecular variance residing within rather than among populations. The west-most population, East Flower Garden Banks, was the most differentiated population in the WTNWA Northern Gulf ecoregion, reflecting its peripheral position within the bank network. The Edisto population from the WTNWA Carolinian ecoregion, was distinct from all others, implicating the Florida Peninsula as a phylogeographic barrier. Biophysical particle-tracking simulations independently recovered the same spatial structure, with modeled larval exchange consistent with the genomic signal across the bank network. These findings reveal that S. exserta persists across the northern WTNWA province through a dual reproductive strategy of clonality at the bank scale and episodic larval exchange at the network scale, with implications for the conservation and management of mesophotic octocoral metacommunities.

ecology

Too packed to change: site-specific substitution rates and side-chain packing in protein evolution

In protein evolution, due to functional and biophysical constraints, the rates of amino acid substitution differ from site to site. Among the best predictors of site-specific rates is packing density. The packing density measure that best correlates with rates is the weighted contact number (WCN), the sum of inverse square distances between the sites C and the other C. According to a mechanistic stress model proposed recently, rates are determined by packing because mutating packed sites stresses and destabilizes the proteins active conformation. While WCN is a measure of C packing, mutations replace side chains, which prompted us to consider whether a sites evolutionary divergence is constrained by main-chain packing or side-chain packing. To address this issue, we extended the stress theory to model side chains explicitly. The theory predicts that rates should depend solely on side-chain packing. We tested these predictions on a data set of structurally and functionally diverse monomeric enzymes. We found that, on average, side-chain contact density (WCN{rho}) explains 39.1% of among-sites rate variation, larger than main-chain contact density (WCN) which explains 32.1%. More importantly, the independent contribution of WCN is only 0.7%. Thus, as predicted by the stress theory, site-specific evolutionary rates are determined by side-chain packing.

Biophysics

Photon-HDF5: an open file format for single-molecule fluorescence experiments using photon-counting detectors

We introduce Photon-HDF5, an open and efficient file format to simplify exchange and long term accessibility of data from single-molecule fluorescence experiments based on photon-counting detectors such as single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD), photomultiplier tube (PMT) or arrays of such detectors. The format is based on HDF5, a widely used platform- and language-independent hierarchical file format for which user-friendly viewers are available. Photon-HDF5 can store raw photon data (timestamp, channel number, etc...) from any acquisition hardware, but also setup and sample description, information on provenance, authorship and other metadata, and is flexible enough to include any kind of custom data.\n\nThe format specifications are hosted on a public website, which is open to contributions by the biophysics community. As an initial resource, the website provides code examples to read Photon-HDF5 files in several programming languages and a reference Python library (phconvert), to create new Photon-HDF5 files and convert several existing file formats into Photon-HDF5. To encourage adoption by the academic and commercial communities, all software is released under the MIT open source license.

Biophysics

Extracellular Forces Cause the Nucleus to Deform in a Highly Controlled Anisotropic Manner

Physical forces arising in the extra-cellular environment have a profound impact on cell fate and gene regulation; however the underlying biophysical mechanisms that control this sensitivity remain elusive. It is hypothesized that gene expression may be influenced by the physical deformation of the nucleus in response to force. Here, using 3T3s as a model, we demonstrate that extra-cellular forces cause cell nuclei to rapidly deform (< 1 s) preferentially along their shorter nuclear axis, in an anisotropic manner. Nuclear anisotropy is shown to be regulated by the cytoskeleton within intact cells, with actin and microtubules resistant to orthonormal strains. Importantly, nuclear anisotropy is intrinsic, and observed in isolated nuclei. The sensitivity of this behaviour is influenced by chromatin organization and lamin-A expression. An anisotropic response to force was also highly conserved amongst an array of examined nuclei from differentiated and undifferentiated cell types. Although the functional purpose of this conserved material property remains elusive, it may provide a mechanism through which mechanical cues in the microenvironment are rapidly transmitted to the genome.

Biophysics

Measuring and modeling diffuse scattering in protein X-ray crystallography

X-ray diffraction has the potential to provide rich information about the structural dynamics of macromolecules. To realize this potential, both Bragg scattering, which is currently used to derive macromolecular structures, and diffuse scattering, which reports on correlations in charge density variations must be measured. Until now measurement of diffuse scattering from protein crystals has been scarce, due to the extra effort of collecting diffuse data. Here, we present three-dimensional measurements of diffuse intensity collected from crystals of the enzymes cyclophilin A and trypsin. The measurements were obtained from the same X-ray diffraction images as the Bragg data, using best practices for standard data collection. To model the underlying dynamics in a practical way that could be used during structure refinement, we tested Translation-Libration-Screw (TLS), Liquid-Like Motions (LLM), and coarse-grained Normal Modes (NM) models of protein motions. The LLM model provides a global picture of motions and were refined against the diffuse data, while the TLS and NM models provide more detailed and distinct descriptions of atom displacements, and only used information from the Bragg data. Whereas different TLS groupings yielded similar Bragg intensities, they yielded different diffuse intensities, none of which agreed well with the data. In contrast, both the LLM and NM models agreed substantially with the diffuse data. These results demonstrate a realistic path to increase the number of diffuse datasets available to the wider biosciences community and indicate that NM-based refinement can generate dynamics-inspired structural models that simultaneously agree with both Bragg and diffuse scattering.\n\nSignificanceThe structural details of protein motions are critical to understanding many biological processes, but they are often hidden to conventional biophysical techniques. Diffuse X-ray scattering can reveal details of the correlated movements between atoms; however, the data collection historically has required extra effort and dedicated experimental protocols. We have measured three-dimensional diffuse intensities in X-ray diffraction from CypA and trypsin crystals using standard crystallographic data collection techniques. Analysis of the resulting data is consistent with the protein motions resembling diffusion in a liquid or vibrations of a soft solid. Our results show that using diffuse scattering to model protein motions can become a component of routine crystallographic analysis through the extension of commonplace methods.

Biophysics

Predictive multi-scale computational environment for studying epithelial dynamics

Mitotic rounding (MR) during cell division is critical for the robust segregation of chromosomes into daughter cells and is frequently perturbed in cancerous cells. MR has been studied extensively in individual cultured cells, but the physical mechanisms regulating MR in intact tissues are still poorly understood. A cell undergoes mitotic rounding by simultaneously reducing adhesion with its neighbors, increasing actomyosin contraction around the cortex, and increasing the osmotic pressure of the cytoplasm. Whether these changes are purely additive, synergistic or impact separate aspects of MR is not clear. Specific modulation of these processes in dividing cells within a tissue is experimentally challenging, because of off-target effects and the difficulty of targeting only dividing cells. In this study, we analyze MR in epithelial cells by using a newly developed multi-scale, cell-based computational model that is calibrated using experimental observations from a model system of epithelial tissue growth, the Drosophila wing imaginal disc. The model simulations predict that increase in apical surface area of mitotic cells is solely driven by increasing cytoplasmic pressure. MR however is not achieved within biological constraints unless all three properties (cell-cell adhesion, cortical stiffness and pressure) are simultaneously regulated by the cell. The new multi-scale model is computationally implemented using a parallelization algorithm on a cluster of graphic processing units (GPUs) to make simulations of tissues with a large number of cells feasible. The model is extensible to investigate a wide range of cellular phenomena at the tissue scale.\n\nAuthor SummaryMitotic rounding (MR) during cell division is critical for the robust segregation of chromosomes into daughter cells and is frequently perturbed in cancerous cells. MR has been studied extensively in individual cultured cells, but the physical mechanisms regulating MR in intact tissues are still poorly understood. The newly developed computational model Epi-scale enables one to produce new hypotheses about the underlying biophysical mechanisms governing MR of epithelial cells within the developing tissue micro-environment. In particular, our simulations results predict that robust mitotic rounding requires co-current changes in cell-cell adhesion, cortical stiffness and cytoplasmic pressure, and explains how regulation of each property impacts the shapes of dividing cells in tissues.

Biophysics

Compaction and segregation of sister chromatids via active loop extrusion

The mechanism by which chromatids and chromosomes are segregated during mitosis and meiosis is a major puzzle of biology and biophysics. Using polymer simulations of chromosome dynamics, we show that a single mechanism of loop extrusion by condensins can robustly compact, segregate and disentangle chromosomes, arriving at individualized chromatids with morphology observed in vivo. Our model resolves the paradox of topological simplification concomitant with chromosome \"condensation\", and explains how enzymes a few nanometers in size are able to control chromosome geometry and topology at micron length scales. We suggest that loop extrusion is a universal mechanism of genome folding that mediates functional interactions during interphase and compacts chromosomes during mitosis.

Biophysics

Active Microrheology of Intestinal Mucus in the Larval Zebrafish

Mucus is a complex biological fluid that plays a variety of functional roles in many physiological systems. Intestinal mucus in particular serves as a physical barrier to pathogens, a medium for the diffusion of nutrients and metabolites, and an environmental home for colonizing microbes. Its rheological properties have therefore been the subject of many investigations, thus far limited, however, to in vitro studies due to the difficulty of measurement in the natural context of the gut. This limitation especially hinders our understanding of how the gut microbiota interact with the intestinal environment, since examination of this calls not only for in vivo measurement techniques, but for techniques that can be applied to model organisms in which the microbial state of the gut can be controlled. We address this challenge by developing a method that combines magnetic microrheology, light sheet fluorescence microscopy, and microgavage of particles, applying this to the larval zebrafish, a model vertebrate. We present measurements of the viscosity of mucus within the intestinal bulb of both germ-free (devoid of intestinal microbes) and conventionally reared larval zebrafish. At the length scale probed ({approx} 10m), we find that mucus behaves as a Newtonian fluid, with no discernable elastic component. Surprisingly, despite known differences in the the number of secretory cells in germ-free zebrafish and their conventional counterparts, the fluid viscosity for these two groups was very similar. Our measurements provide the first in vivo measurements of intestinal mucus rheology at micron length scales in living animals, quantifying of an important biomaterial environment and highlighting the utility of active magnetic microrheology for biophysical studies.

Biophysics

Measuring Mechanodynamics using an Unsupported Epithelial Monolayer Grown at an Air-Water Interface

Actomyosin contraction and relaxation in a monolayer is a fundamental biophysical process in development and homeostasis. Current methods used to characterize the mechanodynamics of monolayers often involve cells grown on solid supports such as glass or gels. The results of these studies are fundamentally influenced by these supporting structures. Here, we describe a new methodology for measuring the mechanodynamics of epithelial monolayers by culturing cells at an air-liquid interface. These model monolayers are grown in the absence of any supporting structures allowing us to remove cell-substrate effects. This methods potential was evaluated by observing and quantifying the generation and release of internal stresses upon actomyosin contraction (320{+/-}50Pa) and relaxation (190{+/-}40Pa) in response to chemical treatments. This is in contrast to the results observed in monolayers grown on solid substrates (glass and gels) where movement was drastically muted. Tracking the displacement of cell nuclei, cell edges and cluster perimeter allowed us to quantify the strain dynamics in the monolayer indicating the reliability of this method. New insights were also revealed with this approach. Although unsupported monolayers exhibited clear major and minor strain axes, they were not correlated to the general alignment of cell nuclei. The situation was dramatically different when the monolayers were grown on soft gels and hard glass substrates. It was observed that both gels and glass substrates led to the promotion of long-range alignment of cell nuclei. In addition, the strain orientation was correlated to nuclear alignment on the soft deformable gels. This new approach provides us with a picture of basal actomyosin mechanodynamics in a simplified system allowing us to infer how the presence of a substrate impacts actomyosin contractility and long-range multi-cellular organization and dynamics. This new methodology will also enable many new questions to be asked about the molecular regulation of the mechanodynamics of unsupported monolayers.

Biophysics

Large scale chromosome folding is stable against local changes in chromatin structure

Characterizing the link between small-scale chromatin structure and large-scale chromosome folding during interphase is a prerequisite for understanding transcription. Yet, this link remains poorly investigated. Here, we introduce a simple biophysical model where interphase chromosomes are described in terms of the folding of chromatin sequences composed of alternating blocks of fibers with different thicknesses and flexibilities, and we use it to study the influence of sequence disorder on chromosome behaviors in space and time. By employing extensive computer simulations,we thus demonstrate that chromosomes undergo noticeable conformational changes only on length-scales smaller than 105 basepairs and time-scales shorter than a few seconds, and we suggest there might exist effective upper bounds to the detection of chromosome reorganization in eukaryotes. We prove the relevance of our framework by modeling recent experimental FISH data on murine chromosomes.\n\nAuthor SummaryA key determining factor in many important cellular processes as DNA transcription, for instance, the specific composition of the chromatin fiber sequence has a major influence on chromosome folding during interphase. Yet, how this is achieved in detail remains largely elusive. In this work, we explore this link by means of a novel quantitative computational polymer model for interphase chromosomes where the associated chromatin filaments are composed of mixtures of fibers with heterogeneous physical properties. Our work suggests a scenario where chromosomes undergo only limited reorganization, namely on length-scales below 105 basepairs and time-scales shorter than a few seconds. Our conclusions are supported by recent FISH data on murine chromosomes.

Biophysics

Physical basis of large microtubule aster growth

Microtubule asters - radial arrays of microtubules organized by centrosomes - play a fundamental role in the spatial coordination of animal cells. The standard model of aster growth assumes a fixed number of microtubules originating from the centrosomes. However, aster morphology in this model does not scale with cell size, and we recently found evidence for non-centrosomal microtubule nucleation. Here, we combine autocatalytic nucleation and polymerization dynamics to develop a biophysical model of aster growth. Our model predicts that asters expand as traveling waves and recapitulates all major aspects of aster growth. As the nucleation rate increases, the model predicts an explosive transition from stationary to growing asters with a discontinuous jump of the growth velocity to a nonzero value. Experiments in frog egg extract confirm the main theoretical predictions. Our results suggest that asters observed in large frog and amphibian eggs are a meshwork of short, unstable microtubules maintained by autocatalytic nucleation and provide a paradigm for the assembly of robust and evolvable polymer networks.

Biophysics

The role of evolutionary selection in the dynamics of protein structure evolution

Homology modeling is a powerful tool for predicting a proteins structure. This approach is successful because proteins whose sequences are only 30% identical still adopt the same structure, while structure similarity rapidly deteriorates beyond the 30% threshold. By studying the divergence of protein structure as sequence evolves in real proteins and in evolutionary simulations, we show that this non-linear sequence-structure relationship emerges as a result of selection for protein folding stability in divergent evolution. Fitness constraints prevent the emergence of unstable protein evolutionary intermediates thereby enforcing evolutionary paths that preserve protein structure despite broad sequence divergence. However on longer time scales, evolution is punctuated by rare events where the fitness barriers obstructing structure evolution are overcome and discovery of new structures occurs. We outline biophysical and evolutionary rationale for broad variation in protein family sizes, prevalence of compact structures among ancient proteins and more rapid structure evolution of proteins with lower packing density.

Biophysics

Chaotic propagation of spatial cytoskeletal instability modulates integrity of podocyte foot processes

The kidney podocytes function depends on its distinctive morphology. Each podocyte has fingerlike projections, called foot processes, that interdigitate with the processes of neighboring cells to form the glomerular filtration barrier. The integrity of foot process interactions depends on tight spatial control of the dynamics of the underlying actin cytoskeleton, which is regulated by the GTPases, Rac1 and RhoA. To understand how spatially-specific regulation of actin filament dynamics within foot processes controls local morphology, we used a combination of 3-D microscopy and dynamical models. We experimentally determined cell-cell interactions using serial blockface scanning electron microscopy and reconstructed a 3-D spatial representation of a podocyte. We developed a minimal dynamical system for regulation of the actin cytoskeleton; using this 3-D model, we determined how spatial reaction-diffusion dynamics can dysregulate actin bundling, leading to propagation of chaotic foot process effacement. Consistent with experimental observations, our simulations predicted that hyperactive RhoA could destabilize the cytoskeleton. Our simulations showed that deleterious mechanochemical stimuli could lead to local heterogeneity of cytoskeletal dynamics resulting in the emergence of progressive and chaotic loss of foot processes. While global enhancement of Rac1 may result in stronger bundles, the spatial simulations showed that even transient local heterogeneities in polymerization could have dramatic consequences in the stability of multiple foot processes. We conclude that the podocyte morphology optimized for filtration contains intrinsic fragility whereby local imbalances in biochemical and biophysical reactions lead to morphological changes associated with glomerular pathophysiology.

Biophysics

Polymer physics of nuclear organization and function

We review here recent progress to link the nuclear organization to its function, based on elementary physical processes such as diffusion, polymer dynamics of DNA, chromatin and the search mechanism for a small target by double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) break. These physical models and their analysis make it possible to compute critical rates involved in cell reorganization timing, which depends on many parameters. In the framework of polymer models, various empirical observations are interpreted as anomalous diffusion of chromatin at various time scales. The reviewed theoretical approaches offer a framework for extracting features, biophysical parameters, predictions, and so on, based on a large variety of experimental data, such as chromosomal capture data, single particle trajectories, and more. Combining theoretical approaches with live cell microscopy data should unveil some of the still unexplained behavior of the nucleus in carrying out some of its key function involved in survival, DNA repair or gene activation.

Biophysics

A simple molecular mechanism explains multiple patterns of cell-size regulation

Increasingly accurate and massive data have recently shed light on the fundamental question of how cells maintain a stable size trajectory as they progress through the cell cycle. Microbes seem to use strategies ranging from a pure sizer, where the end of a given phase is triggered when the cell reaches a critical size, to pure adder, where the cell adds a constant size during a phase. Yet the biological origins of the observed spectrum of behavior remain elusive. We analyze a molecular size-control mechanism, based on experimental data from the yeast S. cerevisiae, that gives rise to behaviors smoothly interpolating between adder and sizer. The size-control is obtained from the titration of a repressor protein by an activator protein that accumulates more rapidly with increasing cell size. Strikingly, the size-control is composed of two different regimes: for small initial cell size, the size-control is a sizer, whereas for larger initial cell size, is is an imperfect adder. Our model thus indicates that the adder and critical size behaviors may just be different dynamical regimes of a single simple biophysical mechanism.

biophysics

Cell wall remodeling drives engulfment during Bacillus subtilis sporulation

When starved, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis forms durable spores for survival. Sporulation initiates with an asymmetric cell division, creating a large mother cell and a small forespore. Subsequently, the mother cell membrane engulfs the forespore in a phagocytosis-like process. However, the force generation mechanism for forward membrane movement remains unknown. Here, we show that membrane migration is driven by cell wall remodeling at the leading edge of the engulfing membrane, with peptidoglycan synthesis and degradation mediated by penicillin binding proteins in the forespore and a cell wall degradation protein complex in the mother cell. We propose a simple model for engulfment in which the junction between the septum and the lateral cell wall moves around the forespore by a mechanism resembling the template model. Hence, we establish a biophysical mechanism for the creation of a force for engulfment based on the coordination between cell wall synthesis and degradation.

biophysics