Mechanosensitive recruitment of Vinculin maintains junction integrity and barrier function at epithelial tricellular junctions.

ABSTRACT: Apical cell-cell junctions, including adherens junctions and tight junctions, adhere epithelial cells to one another and regulate selective permeability at both bicellular junctions and tricellular junctions (TCJs). Although several specialized proteins are known to localize at TCJs, it remains unclear how actomyosin-mediated tension transmission at TCJs contributes to the maintenance of junction integrity and barrier function at these sites. Here, utilizing the embryonic epithelium of gastrula-stage Xenopus laevis embryos, we define a mechanism by which the mechanosensitive protein Vinculin helps anchor the actomyosin network at TCJs, thus maintaining TCJ integrity and barrier function. Using an optogenetic approach to acutely increase junctional tension, we find that Vinculin is mechanos

SUBMITTER: van den Goor L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11496005 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature