Intracellular signalling and intercellular coupling coordinate heterogeneous contractile events to facilitate tissue folding

Cycling Rho for tissue contraction

Cell contractility, driven by the RhoA GTPase, is a fundamental determinant of tissue morphogenesis. In this issue, Mason et al. (2016. J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201603077) reveal that cyclic inactivation of RhoA, mediated by its antagonist, C-GAP, is essential for effective contractility to occur.

RhoA GTPase inhibition organizes contraction during epithelial morphogenesis

Mason et al. show that RhoA activity is regulated in space and time by a GEF/GAP module that tunes cell behavior and is required for proper tissue folding and shape during Drosophila morphogenesis.

During morphogenesis, contraction of the actomyosin cytoskeleton within individual cells drives cell shape changes that fold tissues. Coordination of cytoskeletal contractility is mediated by regulating RhoA GTPase activity. Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) activate and GTPase-activating proteins (GAPs) inhibit RhoA activity. Most studies of tissue folding, including apical constriction, have focused on how RhoA is activated by GEFs to promote cell contractility, with little investigation as to how GAPs may be important. Here, we identify a critical role for a RhoA GAP, Cumberland GAP (C-GAP), which coordinates with a RhoA GEF, RhoGEF2, to organize spatiotemporal contractility during Drosophila melanogaster apical constriction. C-GAP spatially restricts RhoA pathway activity to a central position in the apical cortex. RhoGEF2 pulses precede myosin, and C-GAP is required for pulsation, suggesting that contractile pulses result from RhoA activity cycling. Finally, C-GAP expression level influences the transition from reversible to irreversible cell shape change, which defines the onset of tissue shape change. Our data demonstrate that RhoA activity cycling and modulating the ratio of RhoGEF2 to C-GAP are required for tissue folding.

Loss of Gα12/13 exacerbates apical area dependence of actomyosin contractility

Gα_12/13 loss causes cells with a larger apical area to constrict later than smaller cells, leading to uncoordinated constriction. Apical area influences actin density, myosin regulation, and E-cadherin levels. Thus Gα_12/13 is crucial for the robust initiation of contraction in a tissue in which cells initially have heterogeneous apical areas.

During development, coordinated cell shape changes alter tissue shape. In the Drosophila ventral furrow and other epithelia, apical constriction of hundreds of epithelial cells folds the tissue. Genes in the G_α12/13 pathway coordinate collective apical constriction, but the mechanism of coordination is poorly understood. Coupling live-cell imaging with a computational approach to identify contractile events, we discovered that differences in constriction behavior are biased by initial cell shape. Disrupting G_α12/13 exacerbates this relationship. Larger apical area is associated with delayed initiation of contractile pulses, lower apical E-cadherin and F-actin levels, and aberrantly mobile Rho-kinase structures. Our results suggest that loss of G_α12/13 disrupts apical actin cortex organization and pulse initiation in a size-dependent manner. We propose that G_α12/13 robustly organizes the apical cortex despite variation in apical area to ensure the timely initiation of contractile pulses in a tissue with heterogeneity in starting cell shape.

Abl suppresses cell extrusion and intercalation during epithelium folding

Tissue morphogenesis requires control over cell shape changes and rearrangements. In the Drosophila mesoderm, linked epithelial cells apically constrict, without cell extrusion or intercalation, to fold the epithelium into a tube that will then undergo epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Apical constriction drives tissue folding or cell extrusion in different contexts, but the mechanisms that dictate the specific outcomes are poorly understood. Using live imaging, we found that Abelson (Abl) tyrosine kinase depletion causes apically constricting cells to undergo aberrant basal cell extrusion and cell intercalation. abl depletion disrupted apical-basal polarity and adherens junction organization in mesoderm cells, suggesting that extruding cells undergo premature EMT. The polarity loss was associated with abnormal basolateral contractile actomyosin and Enabled (Ena) accumulation. Depletion of the Abl effector Enabled (Ena) in abl-depleted embryos suppressed the abl phenotype, consistent with cell extrusion resulting from misregulated ena Our work provides new insight into how Abl loss and Ena misregulation promote cell extrusion and EMT.

An Optogenetic Method to Modulate Cell Contractility during Tissue Morphogenesis

Morphogenesis of multicellular organisms is driven by localized cell shape changes. How, and to what extent, changes in behavior in single cells or groups of cells influence neighboring cells and large-scale tissue remodeling remains an open question. Indeed, our understanding of multicellular dynamics is limited by the lack of methods allowing the modulation of cell behavior with high spatiotemporal precision. Here, we developed an optogenetic approach to achieve local modulation of cell contractility and used it to control morphogenetic movements during Drosophila embryogenesis. We show that local inhibition of apical constriction is sufficient to cause a global arrest of mesoderm invagination. By varying the spatial pattern of inhibition during invagination, we further demonstrate that coordinated contractile behavior responds to local tissue geometrical constraints. Together, these results show the efficacy of this optogenetic approach to dissect the interplay between cell-cell interaction, force transmission, and tissue geometry during complex morphogenetic processes.

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Optogenetics provides a powerful approach to control tissue morphogenesis

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Two-photon illumination allows precise patterns of optogenetic activation

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Local modulation of cell contractility reveals mechanisms of tissue invagination

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Tissue geometry constrains the cell contractile behavior driving invagination

Force transmission in epithelial tissues

In epithelial tissues, cells constantly generate and transmit forces between each other. Forces generated by the actomyosin cytoskeleton regulate tissue shape and structure and also provide signals that influence cells' decisions to divide, die, or differentiate. Forces are transmitted across epithelia because cells are mechanically linked through junctional complexes, and forces can propagate through the cell cytoplasm. Here, we review some of the molecular mechanisms responsible for force generation, with a specific focus on the actomyosin cortex and adherens junctions. We then discuss evidence for how these mechanisms promote cell shape changes and force transmission in tissues.

Myosin-dependent remodeling of adherens junctions protects junctions from Snail-dependent disassembly

During Drosophila gastrulation, subapical junctions are repositioned toward the apical surface and, as cortical tension increases, are strengthened in a myosin II–dependent manner, which may reflect a mechanosensitive response of junctional complexes to the tension generated by the activation of myosin.

Although Snail is essential for disassembly of adherens junctions during epithelial–mesenchymal transitions (EMTs), loss of adherens junctions in Drosophila melanogaster gastrula is delayed until mesoderm is internalized, despite the early expression of Snail in that primordium. By combining live imaging and quantitative image analysis, we track the behavior of E-cadherin–rich junction clusters, demonstrating that in the early stages of gastrulation most subapical clusters in mesoderm not only persist, but move apically and enhance in density and total intensity. All three phenomena depend on myosin II and are temporally correlated with the pulses of actomyosin accumulation that drive initial cell shape changes during gastrulation. When contractile myosin is absent, the normal Snail expression in mesoderm, or ectopic Snail expression in ectoderm, is sufficient to drive early disassembly of junctions. In both cases, junctional disassembly can be blocked by simultaneous induction of myosin contractility. Our findings provide in vivo evidence for mechanosensitivity of cell–cell junctions and imply that myosin-mediated tension can prevent Snail-driven EMT.