Meeting report: Third Franco-Japanese developmental biology meeting "New Frontiers in developmental biology: Celebrating the diversity of life"

The French and Japanese Developmental Biology Societies, teaming up with Human Frontier Science Program, were eager to meet back in person in November 2022 in the lovely city of Strasbourg. Top scientists in the developmental biology field from France and Japan, but also from United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland or Germany shared their exciting science during the 4 days of this meeting. Core fields of developmental biology such as morphogenesis, patterning, cell identity, and cell state transition, notably at the single cell level, were well represented, and a diversity of experimental models, including plants, animals, and other exotic organisms, as well as some in vitro cellular models, were covered. This event also extended the scope of classic scientific gatherings for two reasons. First the involvement of artists during the preparation of the event and on site. Second, part of the meeting was open for the general public through a series of outreach events, including a music and video presentation through projection mapping at Rohan palace, as well as public lectures.

The kinesin Kif21b regulates radial migration of cortical projection neurons through a non-canonical function on actin cytoskeleton

Completion of neuronal migration is critical for brain development. Kif21b is a plus-end-directed kinesin motor protein that promotes intracellular transport and controls microtubule dynamics in neurons. Here we report a physiological function of Kif21b during radial migration of projection neurons in the mouse developing cortex. In vivo analysis in mouse and live imaging on cultured slices demonstrate that Kif21b regulates the radial glia-guided locomotion of newborn neurons independently of its motility on microtubules. We show that Kif21b directly binds and regulates the actin cytoskeleton both in vitro and in vivo in migratory neurons. We establish that Kif21b-mediated regulation of actin cytoskeleton dynamics influences branching and nucleokinesis during neuronal locomotion. Altogether, our results reveal atypical roles of Kif21b on the actin cytoskeleton during migration of cortical projection neurons.

Rapid assembly of a polar network architecture drives efficient actomyosin contractility

Actin network architecture and dynamics play a central role in cell contractility and tissue morphogenesis. RhoA-driven pulsed contractions are a generic mode of actomyosin contractility, but the mechanisms underlying how their specific architecture emerges and how this architecture supports the contractile function of the network remain unclear. Here we show that, during pulsed contractions, the actin network is assembled by two subpopulations of formins: a functionally inactive population (recruited) and formins actively participating in actin filament elongation (elongating). We then show that elongating formins assemble a polar actin network, with barbed ends pointing out of the pulse. Numerical simulations demonstrate that this geometry favors rapid network contraction. Our results show that formins convert a local RhoA activity gradient into a polar network architecture, causing efficient network contractility, underlying the key function of kinetic controls in the assembly and mechanics of cortical network architectures.

RhoA-driven actomyosin contractility plays a key role in driving cell and tissue contractility during morphogenesis. Tracking individual formins, Costache et al. show that the network assembled downstream of RhoA displays a polar architecture, barbed ends pointing outward, a feature that supports efficient contractility and force transmission during pulsed contractions.

Geometrical control of actin assembly and contractility

The actin cytoskeleton is a fundamental player in many cellular processes. Ultrastructural studies have revealed its extremely complex organization, where actin filaments self-organize into defined and specialized structures of distinct functions and, yet, are able to selectively recruit biochemical regulators that are available in the entire cell volume. To overcome this extraordinary complexity, simplified reconstituted systems significantly improve our understanding of actin dynamics and self-organization. However, little is known regarding physical rules governing actin networks organization and to which extent network structure may direct and regulate selective interactions with specific regulators. Here, we describe the first method to direct actin filament assembly to specific 2D motifs with a finely tuned geometry and relative distribution. This method enables the study of how geometrical confinement governs actin network structural organization and how, in return, structural cues can control selective contraction by myosin motor. The protocol relies on the use of surface micropatterning and functionalization procedures in order to selectively direct actin filament assembly to specific sites of nucleation.

Actin network architecture can determine myosin motor activity

The organization of actin filaments into higher-ordered structures governs eukaryotic cell shape and movement. Global actin network size and architecture are maintained in a dynamic steady state through regulated assembly and disassembly. Here, we used experimentally defined actin structures in vitro to investigate how the activity of myosin motors depends on network architecture. Direct visualization of filaments revealed myosin-induced actin network deformation. During this reorganization, myosins selectively contracted and disassembled antiparallel actin structures, while parallel actin bundles remained unaffected. The local distribution of nucleation sites and the resulting orientation of actin filaments appeared to regulate the scalability of the contraction process. This "orientation selection" mechanism for selective contraction and disassembly suggests how the dynamics of the cellular actin cytoskeleton can be spatially controlled by actomyosin contractility.

Turnover of branched actin filament networks by stochastic fragmentation with ADF/cofilin

Cell motility depends on the rapid assembly, aging, severing, and disassembly of actin filaments in spatially distinct zones. How a set of actin regulatory proteins that sustains actin-based force generation during motility work together in space and time remains poorly understood. We present our study of the distribution and dynamics of Arp2/3 complex, capping protein (CP), and actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin in actin "comet tails," using a minimal reconstituted system with nucleation-promoting factor (NPF)-coated beads. The Arp2/3 complex concentrates at nucleation sites near the beads as well as in the first actin shell. CP colocalizes with actin and is homogeneously distributed throughout the comet tail; it serves to constrain the spatial distribution of ATP/ADP-P(i) filament zones to areas near the bead. The association of ADF/cofilin with the actin network is therefore governed by kinetics of actin assembly, actin nucleotide state, and CP binding. A kinetic simulation accurately validates these observations. Following its binding to the actin networks, ADF/cofilin is able to break up the dense actin filament array of a comet tail. Stochastic severing by ADF/cofilin loosens the tight entanglement of actin filaments inside the comet tail and facilitates turnover through the macroscopic release of large portions of the aged actin network.

Cofilin tunes the nucleotide state of actin filaments and severs at bare and decorated segment boundaries

Actin-based motility demands the spatial and temporal coordination of numerous regulatory actin-binding proteins (ABPs), many of which bind with affinities that depend on the nucleotide state of actin filament. Cofilin, one of three ABPs that precisely choreograph actin assembly and organization into comet tails that drive motility in vitro, binds and stochastically severs aged ADP actin filament segments of de novo growing actin filaments. Deficiencies in methodologies to track in real time the nucleotide state of actin filaments, as well as cofilin severing, limit the molecular understanding of coupling between actin filament chemical and mechanical states and severing. We engineered a fluorescently labeled cofilin that retains actin filament binding and severing activities. Because cofilin binding depends strongly on the actin-bound nucleotide, direct visualization of fluorescent cofilin binding serves as a marker of the actin filament nucleotide state during assembly. Bound cofilin allosterically accelerates P(i) release from unoccupied filament subunits, which shortens the filament ATP/ADP-P(i) cap length by nearly an order of magnitude. Real-time visualization of filament severing indicates that fragmentation scales with and occurs preferentially at boundaries between bare and cofilin-decorated filament segments, thereby controlling the overall filament length, depending on cofilin binding density.

Nucleation geometry governs ordered actin networks structures

Actin filaments constitute one of the main components of cell cytoskeleton. Assembled into bundles in filopodia or in stress fibres, they play a pivotal role in eukaryotes during cell morphogenesis, adhesion and motility. The bundle emergence has been extensively related to specific actin regulators in vivo. Such dynamic modulation was also highlighted by biochemical reconstitution of the actin-network assembly, in bulk solution or with biomimetic devices. However, the question of how geometrical boundaries, such as those encountered in cells, affect the dynamic formation of highly ordered actin structures remains poorly studied. Here we demonstrate that the nucleation geometry in itself can be the principal determinant of actin-network architecture. We developed a micropatterning method that enables the spatial control of actin nucleation sites for in vitro assays. Shape, orientation and distance between nucleation regions control filament orientation and length, filament-filament interactions and filopodium-like bundle formation. Modelling of filament growth and interactions demonstrates that basic mechanical and probabilistic laws govern actin assembly in higher-order structures.