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Skamrahl M, Schünemann J, Mukenhirn M, Pang H, Gottwald J, Jipp M, Ferle M, Rübeling A, Oswald T, Honigmann A, Janshoff A. Cellular segregation in cocultures is driven by differential adhesion and contractility on distinct timescales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2213186120. [PMID: 37011207 PMCID: PMC10104523 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213186120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 03/02/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Cellular sorting and pattern formation are crucial for many biological processes such as development, tissue regeneration, and cancer progression. Prominent physical driving forces for cellular sorting are differential adhesion and contractility. Here, we studied the segregation of epithelial cocultures containing highly contractile, ZO1/2-depleted MDCKII cells (dKD) and their wild-type (WT) counterparts using multiple quantitative, high-throughput methods to monitor their dynamical and mechanical properties. We observe a time-dependent segregation process governed mainly by differential contractility on short (<5 h) and differential adhesion on long (>5 h) timescales. The overly contractile dKD cells exert strong lateral forces on their WT neighbors, thereby apically depleting their surface area. Concomitantly, the tight junction-depleted, contractile cells exhibit weaker cell-cell adhesion and lower traction force. Drug-induced contractility reduction and partial calcium depletion delay the initial segregation but cease to change the final demixed state, rendering differential adhesion the dominant segregation force at longer timescales. This well-controlled model system shows how cell sorting is accomplished through a complex interplay between differential adhesion and contractility and can be explained largely by generic physical driving forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Skamrahl
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Justus Schünemann
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Markus Mukenhirn
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics,01307Dresden, Germany
| | - Hongtao Pang
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Jannis Gottwald
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Marcel Jipp
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Maximilian Ferle
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
| | - Angela Rübeling
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Tabea A. Oswald
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Göttingen37077, Germany
| | - Alf Honigmann
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics,01307Dresden, Germany
| | - Andreas Janshoff
- University of Göttingen, Institute of Physical Chemistry,37077Göttingen, Germany
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Bermudez A, Gonzalez Z, Zhao B, Salter E, Liu X, Ma L, Jawed MK, Hsieh CJ, Lin NYC. Supracellular measurement of spatially varying mechanical heterogeneities in live monolayers. Biophys J 2022; 121:3358-3369. [PMID: 36028999 PMCID: PMC9515370 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2022] [Revised: 07/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The mechanical properties of tissues have profound impacts on a wide range of biological processes such as embryo development (1,2), wound healing (3-6), and disease progression (7). Specifically, the spatially varying moduli of cells largely influence the local tissue deformation and intercellular interaction. Despite the importance of characterizing such a heterogeneous mechanical property, it has remained difficult to measure the supracellular modulus field in live cell layers with a high-throughput and minimal perturbation. In this work, we developed a monolayer effective modulus measurement by integrating a custom cell stretcher, light microscopy, and AI-based inference. Our approach first quantifies the heterogeneous deformation of a slightly stretched cell layer and converts the measured strain fields into an effective modulus field using an AI inference. This method allowed us to directly visualize the effective modulus distribution of thousands of cells virtually instantly. We characterized the mean value, SD, and correlation length of the effective cell modulus for epithelial cells and fibroblasts, which are in agreement with previous results. We also observed a mild correlation between cell area and stiffness in jammed epithelia, suggesting the influence of cell modulus on packing. Overall, our reported experimental platform provides a valuable alternative cell mechanics measurement tool that can be integrated with microscopy-based characterizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Bermudez
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
| | - Zachary Gonzalez
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Bao Zhao
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Ethan Salter
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Xuanqing Liu
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Leixin Ma
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Mohammad Khalid Jawed
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA
| | - Cho-Jui Hsieh
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Neil Y C Lin
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California; Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
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